New rules on human tissue procurement

When the host of the BBC’s Letter from America died three years ago, his bones were taken by a criminal gang and sold to a New York company supplying biomedical tissue. Some of the tissue was used in bone graft tissue implanted into British patients.

Now, under new legislation, a benchmark will be set for the quality and safety of human tissue and cells across Europe. At the same time, the Human Tissue Authority (HTA) is introducing best practice guidelines for those sourcing human tissue, to ensure appropriate ethical and safety standards.

The UK’s Human Tissue (Quality and Safety for Human Application) Regulations 2007 will bring the EU Tissue and Cell Directive (EUTCD) into law – making it an offence to import and export human tissue without a licence from the HTA. In addition, it will no longer be possible to carry out procurement, processing, testing and distribution without a licence – or a third party agreement with an establishment that has a licence to store tissues and cells for human application.