News

The UK’s Human Tissue Authority (HTA) has announced the launch of a public consultation process to get stakeholders’ views on its revised codes of practice and a new code of practice on research (see press release). Codes of practice 1-7 have been re-written and a new code of practice on research has been included on the basis of their experience over the past two years and feedback from stakeholders. They are not consulting on code of practice 8, which pertains to the import and export of human bodies, body parts and tissue as it was only published in May 2007. The new code of practice on research is specifically for those who store human tissue for research and provides advice and guidance on issues including licensing and consent requirements for tissue from both the living and deceased.

The public consultation runs from 1^st August to 14^th November 2008. The HTA has asked for comments from researchers and other stakeholders on any part of the codes and have also detailed some specific questions they would like addressed. Details of the codes and consultation are available on the HTA website.