Suzi Leather: 'We're not here simply in order to have babies'

Suzi Leather keeps a large, chunky volume beside her on her desk. It's called Bioethics for Scientists, the work of some of the leading thinkers in the field. And it's just as well that it's there, for last week Miss Leather and the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), which she chairs, found themselves yet again in the firing line in one of the most controversial areas of modern medicine.

It emerged that scientists are about to be given the go-ahead to build up a bank of cells that would be used to treat medical conditions such as dementia and diabetes. The richest source of the vital stem cells used in this work is the human embryo created during IVF treatment, which Miss Leather's authority regulates.

Miss Leather, who was appointed chairman of the HFEA in March, is well aware of the sensitive nature of this latest advance in science. Her authority is working with the Medical Research Council to draw up consent forms for IVF couples to allow embryos to be used for the purposes of stem-cell research.

But isn't there a danger that couples could be pressurised into agreeing to donate embryos? Miss Leather is adamant it won't happen. "There are very firm rules about consent. Donation of embryos must not be a condition of getting treatment."

Miss Leather has also given a guarantee that a doctor offering a patient IVF treatment cannot also ask that patient to donate embryos for research. "There has to be a wall between the two," she declares. Yet there are connections between research labs wanting stem cells and IVF clinics with a ready supply of embryos, as we report today on page 18 – even though her staff maintain that "this is not something that is usually done".

That is just the kind of situation that organisations such as the Pro-Life Alliance call "the exploitation of human life" and the HFEA chairman has to deal with. Few jobs in the public eye can be more daunting. Its holder has to be able to deal not only with stem-cell research but also cloning issues and all kinds of claims about designer babies. It needs someone who can be as much a philosopher as a regulator, someone who is not afraid to think about difficult human dilemmas.

Miss Leather, with years of experience dealing with sensitive public policy, including a stint as deputy chairman of the Food Standards Agency, is adept at careful phrasing to assuage her critics. But only so far. Her background in bioethics – she helped to found one of the first university courses on the subject – has led her to the conclusion that it is acceptable to experiment, as the law allows, on the embryo up to 14 days after fertilisation. For her, the important issue is when a human life – that ball of cells – becomes a person. But Miss Leather cannot offer us any certainties on that one. Rather, says the 46-year-old mother of three, "it's a gradual process, rather like the one where a woman gradually believes she is pregnant".

Last week she was more plain-spoken when she warned that women in their mid- to late-thirties should not be panicked into trying infertility treatment too soon. In some cases, clinics should allow women to conceive naturally, even if this takes a long time. Other women need to be warned that they really stand little chance of getting pregnant at all.

"There is concern that women are being pressurised; it always has to be a clinical judgement. Patients need to be given all the information – including the information that your chances are rather poor."

Miss Leather urges would-be parents to be "consumers" and assess IVF clinics carefully. On Friday, the HFEA published its patients' guide, which showed that some clinics do as well or better than nature. The best achieve success in nearly half the treatment cycles attempted, while sexual intercourse between a couple of average fertility, at a time when the woman is most likely to conceive, achieves pregnancy one in three times.

Many patients have complained of a postcode lottery, with success depending on where you live, as well as whether you can pay for private care. Miss Leather wants equal access for all to IVF. But children, she thinks, are not a given right for everybody.

"The drive to have children is very strong, as evidenced by the extraordinary lengths people will go to. But it's not an absolute right. We're not just here to have babies."

Biography

1956: Born in Uganda

1974: Goes to Exeter University to read politics

1978: Begins work in health and agricultural consumer issues

1990-95: MAFF Food consumer panel

1994: MBE for services to agriculture and food safety

1997: Chairman of Exeter Community NHS Trust

2000: Deputy chairman of UK Food Standards Agency

March 2002: Chairman of Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority