UK: Spotlit HFEA receives DoH endorsement:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
The UK's Department of Health has re-appointed Suzi Leather to chair the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), in a move that is a significant endorsement of Ms Leather's leadership. This includes her handling of criticism of the body's operational policy and of the debate surrounding some ground-breaking - and ethically highly sensitive - technical developments. These include therapeutic cloning and pre-implantation genetic screening for tissue-typing purposes (see Clinica No 1142, p 7). Her appointment for a second three-year term is also significant in that she will oversee the completion of major reforms in the UK's regulation of human tissue, embryology and fertility services, with the replacement of the HFEA and the Human Tissue Authority by the Regulatory Authority for Fertility and Tissue (RAFT), by April 2008 (see Clinica No 1134, p 5).
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