ACCESS TO HUMAN TISSUE FOR HEALTH RESEARCH

That this House recognises the importance of access to human tissue samples for health research by academics and the pharmaceutical industry; notes that carrying out initial research on human tissue samples can help create more effective drug therapies, reduce the risk of harm to human subjects in drug trials and prevent waste of resources on unsuccessful trials; further notes that lack of access to suitable human tissue can slow down progress towards finding treatments for many diseases; believes that encouraging surgical patients to consent to the use of their residual surgical tissue for research purposes is a valuable objective for Government to pursue; further notes with concern that there is no established standard mechanism in NHS hospitals for sharing and making researchers aware of human tissue which is stored accross the UK for research purposes; and calls on the Government to make an exerted effort to look for ways to increase the accessibility of human tissue samples for health research.