Anatomy

Disposal of relevant material is one of the statutory activities within the remit of the Human Tissue Authority (HTA). However, the Human Tissue Act 2004 (HT Act) does not mandate any particular method of disposal according to the type or size of the relevant material. Further, it does not specify how to dispose of imported relevant material.

This section explains the consent exemptions from the Human Tissue Act (2004) (HT Act).

Medical school staff are sometimes faced with the challenge of deciding whether the consent given by potential donors, often many years before their death, is valid if it contains colloquial terminology and not the specific terms stated in the Human Tissue Act 2004 (the HT Act). This document aims to provide guidance on the circumstances under which the consent may be deemed acceptable and can be acted upon.

Some schools and colleges store human material for use in teaching. Such specimens could include cells on a microscope slide, specimens preserved in formalin, skulls, and partial or complete skeletons. 

Under the Human Tissue Act 2004 (‘the HT Act’), human material which contains cells is called ‘relevant material’.