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Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill [Lords]

It is perhaps regrettable that we in this House cannot consider the Human Tissue Act 2004 in the context of saviour siblings, and debate it more fully so that the House can be clear about its intentions. The Human Tissue Authority—or, indeed, lawyers—might be seeking to make the case that Parliament would effectively be sanctioning the creation of a sibling for the specific purpose of tissue matching. If the alleviation or cure does not come through the use of cord blood or bone marrow, the next considerations will be about other tissues and whether there should be other donations. The burden on the sibling and the parents to find the cure, which they see before them in the saviour sibling, would be immense and might be of concern psychologically. The argument has been made that such a situation might, alternatively, help the family to bond. What would happen if a person who has been created to cure or help their sibling cannot do so? The pressure would continue. What would be the psychological impact on a saviour sibling of knowing that they were created for a purpose that they cannot achieve? There is no evidence on that, but the burden is on the Government to establish whether there has been any assessment or study of the psychological impacts.