To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Prior of Brampton on 17 October (HL2340) and 5 December (HL3452), whether members of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) expert panel approached John Zhang or were approached by him, and when any such contact was first made; and to what extent, if any, the recent recommendations of the HFEA expert panel were influenced by the John Zhang's unpublished data referred to in the journal Nature on 10 November.
Answered on
20 December 2016
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that the Expert Panel has met on four occasions over the past four years. On each occasion a formal call for evidence was issued. With regard to the most recent report, the Panel received confidential correspondence on particular issues. Panel members were able to share private correspondence with the Secretariat that supports the Panel, where relevant. Where any evidence has influenced the reports it has been cited.
The HFEA has also advised that it approached John Zhang, following the publication of the abstract from the October 2016 American Society for Reproductive Medicine meeting, entitled “First live birth using human oocytes reconstituted by spindle nuclear transfer for mitochondrial DNA mutation causing Leigh syndrome”. A copy of the abstract is attached. The Panel also interviewed Prof. Zhang to further understand the methods used. The Panel’s report references the Zhang work.