Human Tissue Act 2004

The Human Tissue Act 2004 (c. 30)^[b] is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, that applied to England, Northern Ireland and Wales, which consolidated previous legislation and created the Human Tissue Authority to "regulate the removal, storage, use and disposal of human bodies, organs and tissue."^[1] The Act does not extend to Scotland; its counterpart there is the Human Tissue (Scotland) Act 2006.

Human Tissue Act 2004^[a]

Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to make provision with respect to activities involving human tissue; to make provision about the transfer of human remains from certain museum collections; and for connected purposes.
Citation	2004 c. 30
Territorial extent	England, Northern Ireland and Wales
Dates
Royal assent	15 November 2004
Other legislation
Relates to	Human Tissue (Scotland) Act 2006 Human Transplantation (Wales) Act 2013
Status: Current legislation
Text of statute as originally enacted
Revised text of statute as amended

Background

The Act was brought about as a consequence of, among things, the Alder Hey organs scandal,^[1] in which organs of children had been retained by the Alder Hey Children's Hospital without consent, and the Kennedy inquiry into heart surgery on children at the Bristol Royal Infirmary. A consultative exercise followed the Government's Green Paper, Human Bodies, Human Choices (2002), and earlier recommendations by the Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson.

The Act

The Act allows for anonymous organ donation (previously, living people could only donate organs to those to whom they had a genetic or emotional connection),^[2] and requires licences for those intending to publicly display human remains, such as BODIES... The Exhibition.^[3] The Act also specifies that in cases of organ donation after death the wishes of the deceased takes precedence over the wishes of relatives,^[4] but a parliamentary report concluded in 2006 that the Act likely would fail in this regard since most surgeons would be unwilling to confront families in such situations.^[5]

The Act prohibits selling organs. In 2007 a man became the first person convicted under the Act for trying to sell his kidney online for £24,000 in order to pay off his gambling debts.^[6]

Regulations

The following orders have been made under this section:

• The Human Tissue Act 2004 (Commencement No. 1) Order 2005 (S.I. 2005/919)
• The Human Tissue Act 2004 (Commencement No. 2) Order 2005 (S.I. 2005/2632 (C. 108))
• The Human Tissue Act 2004 (Commencement No. 3 and Transitional Provisions) Order 2005 (S.I. 2005/2792 (C. 115))
• The Human Tissue Act 2004 (Commencement No. 4 and Transitional Provisions) Order 2006
• The Human Tissue Act 2004 (Commencement No. 5 and Transitional Provisions) Order 2006 (S.I. 2006/1997 (C. 68))
• The Human Tissue Act 2004 (Commencement No.5 and Transitional Provisions) (Amendment) Order 2006 (S.I. 2006/2169)

Application

There is no official report on the number of restitutions that have been permitted under the Human Tissue Act 2004. In the United Kingdom, museums are not required to disclose such information. The table below therefore establishes a non-exhaustive list of human remains that have been restituted following the implementation of the Human Tissue Act.

Institution	Applicant	Object of the request	Outcome of the request	Date and place of return	Source
British Museum	The Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre and the Australian Government	Two Cremation Ash Bundles	Approved	2006 – Tasmania Aboriginal Centre	[7]
British Museum	New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa	Seven preserved tattooed heads and nine human bone fragments	Partially Approved	2008 – Te Papa Tongarewa, New Zealand	[8]
British Museum	The Torres Strait Islander traditional owners with the support of the Australian Government	Two modified skulls	Rejected	-	[9]
World Museum of Liverpool	Unknown	Five human remains	Approved	2007 – Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa	[10]
World Museum of Liverpool	Australian Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination – Australian Government	A skull	Approved	2009 – Ngarrindjeri people in Australia	[11]
World Museum of Liverpool	Unknown	A mummified baby	Approved	2010 – Meuram Tribe from the Torres Strait Islands	[10]
National History Museum of London	Unknown	Torres Strait Islander Bones	Approved	2007	[12]

See also

• Human Transplantation (Wales) Act 2013