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Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill [HL]

I, too, was a member of the scrutiny committee, and I was always unhappy about this definition and the difference between ““serious”” and ““life-threatening””. I take a different view from that of the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin. The definition of a life-threatening disorder can be extremely wide. We face in this country the possible threat of a bird flu epidemic that might kill people. Influenza is a life-threatening disease that has killed many thousands of people in the United Kingdom in the past century. The definition of ““life-threatening”” is very broad and in many ways is preferable to ““serious””, which is open to all sorts of interpretations and is much looser. ““Life-threatening”” is a better definition and would cover genetic diseases. I see the noble Lord smiling, so let me give an example. One genetic disease that could be classed as serious but is certainly not life-threatening is colour blindness. I think most of your Lordships would agree that it would be rather unjustified under the purposes of the Bill to screen an embryo for colour blindness, but it might be a serious condition under this vague definition. It is certainly not life-threatening.