The Human Tissue Authority (HTA) welcomes the conclusion of this case.
People and organisations wanting to use human tissue must follow the law. We will involve the police where we think the law has been broken.
We advise anyone who wants to use human tissue to check our website (hta.gov.uk) and contact us if they are not clear about what they need to do.
Notes
1. The HTA referred this case to the police in 2020 and have provided expert advice as it has progressed. Ensuring human tissue and organs are handled with dignity, used with the proper consent of those involved, and stored safely, is at the heart of what we do at the Human Tissue Authority.
2. The Human Tissue Act 2004 sets out a number of offences regarding consent and licensing:
- A deliberate breach of the Human Tissue Act 2004 may constitute an offence; for example, storing human tissue for certain purposes without a licence.
- Tissue collected before the Human Tissue Act 2004 came into force is referred to as “existing holdings”. These are not subject to the consent requirements of the Human Tissue Act 2004 but a licence may still be required to store them.
- Our Code of Practice on Research provides further information on the legal and regulatory requirements.
3. Consent and the wishes of the donor, or where appropriate their nominated representatives or relatives, have primacy when removing, storing, and using human tissue. This means:
- human tissue, or bodies of the deceased, should be used in accordance with the expressed wishes of donors or their relatives.
- donors and their relatives should be given the information they need to be able to make a decision that is right for them.