Written question asked by David Drew (Labour) on Tuesday, 17 May 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 19 May 2005. It was answered by Jane Kennedy (Labour) on Monday, 6 June 2005 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Xenotransplantation

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the recent World Health Organisation report on xenotransplantation; and what plans she has (a) to improve regulations and (b) to promote ethical standards in this area.

Answer: I have been asked to reply.In 1998, the Government announced steps to tighten the regulation of the development of animal to human transplants (xenotransplantation) and issued a Health Service Circular—HSC July 1998/126: Clinical Procedures involving Xenotransplantation—to all national health service organisations to ensure that all hospitals comply with procedures to make xenotransplantation applications as set out by the United Kingdom Xenotransplantation Interim Regulatory Authority (UKXIRA). This document is available at: www.advisorybodies.doh. gov.uk/ukxira/ukxann.htmThese regulations are continually reviewed by UKXIRA as outlined in section two of the fifth annual report, published in 2003, which resulted in UKXIRA recommending that the Government review the definition of xenotransplantation. This work is currently being taken forward to ensure that the United Kingdom's definition of xenotransplantation is in line with the revised, broader, definition adopted in the United States in 2000, and which the Council of Europe is expected to recommend for adoption by member states. The fifth annual report is also available from the website address above.

Secondary information