Cancer patients, gametes, gonadal tissue, and the UK legal status.
With advances in reproductive technologies, there are new opportunities for preservation of fertility potential for cancer patients receiving damaging treatment regimens. These include cryopreservation of gonadal tissue and maturing germ cells. These developments were not envisaged in the UK Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. Complex legal interpretations have followed in deciding which techniques come under statutory remit of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, and whether a licence is necessary to conduct such activities. The decisions have depended on the legal definition of the gamete and the fact that substituted consent within the Act 1990 is specifically disallowed. In our analyses we believe several areas require further explanation or improvement: the definition relating to the oocyte, its applicability to ovarian tissue, a pre-Tanner stage 2 patient whose immature spermatozoa may satisfy the definition of gamete, and the legal mechanism of substituting consent which may allow the unregulated use of frozen gonadal tissue or germ cells for procreation in future years. In a recent development it appears that gonadal tissue may come under a 'tissue specific body' and not the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. It makes sense from the standpoint of patient welfare and the limited public and clinical resources, to place under one regulatory body all biological material where the ultimate aim is human procreation.