Written question asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour) on Monday, 25 June 2007.

Embryology

Question: asked Her Majesty's Government:When the last licences for the hamster egg penetration test (HEPT), permitted under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, were granted and when they expired; andwhether the HEPT has been superseded by intracytoplasmic sperm injection.

Answer: No centre is currently licensed to perform hamster egg penetration testing using human sperm. No applications to perform such a procedure are pending. The last such licence to be issued was a research licence awarded jointly to the Assisted Conception Unit at King’s College Hospital and the School of Biomedical Sciences, King’s College, on 31 May 2001. The licence has now expired, and both centres have closed. There is no evidence available to make any inference as to whether intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection has directly superseded the hamster egg penetration test.

Secondary information