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Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill [HL]

My Lords, I am very pleased to add my name to the amendment, which I strongly support. I would not attempt to try to make it clear in legal terms what the noble and learned Lord has in his usual way made absolutely clear. The amendment captures the important factor in such a decision as to whether an embryo will need to be accorded the same status as a human embryo or should be treated as an animal embryo. It has been widely discussed in the scientific community and it is supported by all the eminent stem cell scientists. As the noble and learned Lord said, the use of ““predominate”” moves away from simplistic counting of the proportion of DNA and allows a more qualitative assessment to be made. It refers to the whole period of use, not in the expectation that this could be checked constantly but in recognition of the fact that the relative amount of DNA may alter with time when animal and human materials combine. That must be considered in any new construct.