Meanings of HFEA in English

The HFEA will now consider the two research applications in the coming months.

Such advances have been aided by the HFEA's permissive but tight regulatory framework.

The new agency, he said, would deal with public disquiet just as the HFEA does.

He put the proposal to the HFEA, which refused.

The Chair of the HFEA, Prof Lisa Jardine, said the technique raised many issues for society.

Anyone found to be storing sperm in the UK without an HFEA-awarded licence is breaking the law.

A spokeswoman for the HFEA urged couples to be aware of the looming law change before undertaking fertility treatment.

Any research on germ cells needs to be licensed by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA).

This latest HFEA decision means the first babies created by the technique in Britain could be born in 2017.

Their applications have been on hold for nearly a year, awaiting the outcome of a public consultation by the HFEA.

One donor-conceived young woman I spoke to knew from the records held by the HFEA that she had 15 half-siblings.

The HFEA says more than 12,000 babies were born in 2006 as a result of IVF.

Today, the HFEA is responsible for overseeing a vast range of research well beyond the boundaries of what was initially envisaged for IVF.

The HFEA has written to clinics warning them to offer counselling on the implications of receiving fertility treatment and giving consent to parenthood.

Any actual procedure will still have to be approved by the HFEA, but researchers from Newcastle University and Kings College, London have already applied.

Two teams of British scientists have applied to the HFEA for permission to create such hybrids to overcome a shortage of donated human eggs.