- How long can I store my Embryos?
- What happens if I don’t apply for an extension?
- Who is responsible for applying for an extension to storage after embryos have been donated?
- When I have finished my treatment and have embryos left over that I no longer need what are my options?
How long can I store my Embryos?
Following proclamation of recent amendments, the maximum period of allowed storage of an embryo will now be 10 years (up from 3 years). This may be extended by the Council where there are 'special reasons for doing so in a particular care' but the amendments make clear now that the Council may only approve an extension on the written application of an eligible person or persons, usually the couple for whom the embryo was created. Clinics will no longer be able to apply for extension of the storage limit for participants, therefore Form 9s will be discontinued.
What happens if I don’t apply for an extension?
It remains illegal for a licensee to store an embryo beyond its permitted storage period and a licensee may allow an embryo to succumb without being subject to liability if the permitted storage period has ended and no application for extension is made. This is as long as they have taken reasonable steps three months before the end of the storage period to notify each person for whom an embryo is being stored that the storage period is coming to an end.
Council is unable to approve applications to extend storage after expiry of the approved storage limit. Participants must therefore be sure to apply within the permitted storage period.
Who is responsible for applying for an extension to storage after embryos have been donated?
Where embryos have been donated for treatment in another couple, the donating couple remain responsible for applying for any extension to the permitted storage period, unless a recipient couple have been identified and signed the appropriate consent forms to take over this responsibility.
Where embryos have been declared to be excess ART embryos and donated for a use that requires licensing by the NHMRC Licensing Committee, Licensees are eligible to apply for extensions of permitted storage.
When I have finished my treatment and have embryos left over that I no longer need what are my options?
- You may give consent to have the embryos removed from storage and allowed to die.
- You may give consent for them to be donated for the use of infertility treatment of others. Refer to Q&A Booklet about the donation of human reproductive material.
- You may give consent for the embryos to be donated for research, staff training, quality assurance and perhaps eventually, stem cell therapies. The National Health and Medical Research Council's Embryo Research Licensing Committee, under a nationally consistent legislative scheme, must license these uses.
Consent for these uses is to be a two stage process. First the embryos are to be declared by the participants to be 'excess' to their treatment needs and then consent explicit to the particular licensed use will be required.