The UK’s new Human Tissue Act could be a mixed blessing.
The legislation, which came into force on 1 September, should prevent a repeat of the 1999 Alder Hey hospital scandal, in which it was discovered that more than 2000 organs removed from dead children without permission had been stored in a basement at the Liverpool hospital. Now researchers conducting post-mortems on children in England, Wales and Northern Ireland must gain a parent’s consent before retaining any tissue.
However, that provision could make it more difficult to investigate the progression of childhood diseases, the Royal College of Pathologists warns. Although…
