Category Archives: Embryology

Embryology

Abortion is not an act of love – The Christian Post

By Zachary Mettler | Monday, October 18, 2021A pregnant pro-life demonstrator and her daughter kneel before the Supreme Court in Washington October 6, 2008. Amid a presidential race that may decide its future direction, the Supreme Court began a new term today with cases about tobacco company lawsuits, protecting whales from Navy sonar and a government crackdown on dirty words on television. | (Photo: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)

The abortion industry often uses lofty language to dress up appalling actions. Phrases like termination of a pregnancy, abortion care, reproductive health care and pro-choice are just a smattering of examples.

This tactic was on full display recently at the United States Capitol.

During the House Oversight Committees hearing on newly enacted pro-life laws, Dr. Ghazeleh Moayedi, an OB-GYN, testified against Texas Senate Bill 8 (SB8). The bill took effect on September 1 and outlawed abortions after a preborn babys heartbeat can be detected.

While speaking against SB8, Dr. Moayediaddedthis pernicious line.

I know firsthand that abortionsaves lives. For the thousands of people Ive cared for, abortion isa blessing, abortion is anact of love, abortion isfreedom (emphasis added)."

If you did a double-take after reading that, youre not alone.

These brash and brazen lies should shock the conscience.

Lets start with the doctors assertion that abortion saves lives.

Weve heard much about following the science over the last year and a half. And when discussing life in the womb, the science is crystal clear. Life begins at conception.

The scientific field of embryology confirms this.

Keith Moore, Ph.D.,writesinEssentials of Human Embryology, Human development begins after the union of male and female gametes or germ cells during a process known as fertilization (conception).

T.W. Sadler, Ph.D.,concludesinLangmans Medical Embryology, The development of a human begins with fertilization.

And Bruce M. Carlson,M.D., Ph.D.writesinPattens Foundations of Embryology, Almost all higher animals start their lives from a single cell, the fertilized ovum (zygote) The time of fertilization represents the starting point in the life history, or ontogeny, of the individual.

As to when life begins, the science is settled.

Therefore, every abortion takes at least one life. That of the preborn child.

Now, is abortion a blessing or an act of love?

Not even close.

Thomas Aquinas defined love as willing the good of the other.

A woman who actively wills the elimination and destruction of her preborn child is acting directly contrary to love. As are those men who encourage their partner to abort their child.

And if you ask almost any parent, theyll tell you that though parenthood is challenging and trying, children are a blessing.

Abortion, the violent and systematic elimination of those children, isnt.

For those who deliberately obscure what abortion really is, the Good Book has something to say: Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness. (Isaiah 5:20).

Pope John Paul II, in his 1995 encyclicalEvangelium Vitae, translated The Gospel of Life, wrote, Today there exists a great multitude of weak and defenseless human beings, unborn children in particular, whose fundamental right to life is being trampled upon.

Only respect for life can be the foundation and guarantee of the most precious and essential goods of society, such as democracy and peace, he added.

Americans frequently pride themselves on living in the freest, greatest, and most exceptional nation on earth. Why else would a nearly 20 foot tall, bronze Statue of Freedom sit atop our U.S. Capitol building?

But consider, can a nation that kills nearly 1 millionpreborn children each year really be called exceptional, great or free?

If you were one of the hundreds of thousands of preborn children aborted in the United States this year, how would you see our nation?

To be clear, abortion isnt an act of love.

Choosing life is.

Zachary Mettler is a staff writer for The Daily Citizen at Focus on the Family.

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Abortion is not an act of love - The Christian Post

Embryology

Is there a link between vaccines and infertility in men? – Cosmos Magazine

Vaccines do have side effects, but there are some social-media users peddling myths that COVID-19 vaccines cause male infertility and sexual dysfunction.

This is not the case there is no established link between COVID vaccines and male fertility, though falling ill with COVID-19 may pose a risk of sexual dysfunction.

Currently there is no evidence that sperm count, semen volume and sperm motility are negatively affected by a vaccine. In fact, there is no evidence that any vaccine at all causes infertility in either males or females.

One preprint study, submitted in May 2021, found no difference in sperm characteristics of 43 men before and after vaccination with Pfizer. The volunteers came from a pool of men receiving IVF services, and 32% of the participants already had ineffective sperm.

Another study published in JAMA quantified sperm volume of 45 men before and after two doses of an mRNA vaccine (either Pfizer or Moderna) and saw no decrease in sperm count 70 days the life cycle of a sperm following the second dose. In fact, it found that semen volume, sperm count and sperm motility all significantly increased.

Eight of the men had low sperm count prior to vaccination, but this increased to normal levels after.

Because the vaccines contain mRNA and not the live virus, it is unlikely that the vaccine would affect sperm parameters, the authors point out in the paper.

In 2017, about seven in 1000 men of reproductive age were affected by male infertility. With 2.8 billion people fully vaccinated globally, we would expect to see a significant and large increase in reported male infertility in 2021 except we havent seen this reported.

The International Federation of Fertility Societies, the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the British Fertility Society and the Association of Reproductive and Clinical Scientists have all released statements that there is no evidence that COVID-19 vaccines cause infertility.

There were no Therapeutic Goods Administration reports of infertility or fertility issues following the administration of 28.7 million vaccine doses in Australia, but there were six mentions of penile discomfort. There was no established link, however, between the vaccine and the discomfort.

Regardless, public concern does remind us that research about COVID-19, vaccines and male fertility is crucial.

The nature of vaccine hesitancy is complex. Sometimes, rumours can circulate because a question was asked that became misconstrued over time as a statement.

Other times, a fact may be taken out of context.

The Society for Male Reproduction and Urology (SMRU) and the Society for the Study of Male Reproduction (SSMR) issued a joint statement with this example: It should be noted that about 16% of men in the Pfizer/BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial experienced fever after the second dose. Fevers can cause temporary declines in sperm production. Thus, if a man experiences fever as the result of the COVID-19 vaccine, he may experience a temporary decline in sperm production, but that would be similar to or less than if the individual experienced fever from developing COVID-19 or for other reasons.

Since the life cycle of a sperm is only 70 days, future sperm production is unlikely to be affected by a fever.

In another instance, a circulating video involving Dr Roger Hodkinson stated that ACE2 receptor is present in the testes and its actually on the cells that produce spermatozoa. The video was accompanied by rhetoric claiming that this showed vaccines were unsafe.

However, many facts were omitted.

First of all, this information was based on a paper published in Biology of Reproduction. In the study, researchers found that the ACE2 receptor, which is found on the cell membrane of some organs, was high in the testes and interacted with SARS-CoV-2. Because of this, the researchers suggested there should be further research into the association between male reproductive health and male COVID patients.

The key here is that this study was not about vaccines it was about the coronavirus itself.

The researchers told FactCheck that the paper is a hypothetical article about the potential effect of SARS-CoV-2 infection on male reproductive health, not about the impact of COVID-19 vaccine on male reproductive health.

Ironically, the paper didnt prove that SARS-CoV-2 influenced male fertility, either.

But it did prompt further research.

There isnt an established link between COVID-19 and sperm count, but there is evidence that the virus is present in the testes and penis.

An autopsy of six men who died of COVID showed that three of them had a lower sperm count than expected, although this is a small sample and may not represent all survivors.

Likewise, the biopsy of another patient who recovered from COVID showed that the virus was still present in the testes three months later.

The same team also found that coronavirus affected the penis, with the virus still present in the penile tissue of two men seven and nine months after their diagnosis. Both men had developed erectile dysfunction, potentially because the infection reduced blood flow.

This trend is consistent with studies on the 2006 SARS outbreak, which is a close cousin of COVID.

A meta-analysis published in March suggested that there hadnt been enough time to assess the long-term effects of COVID-19 on sperm count and quality, but there is definite evidence of an effect on testes and penile tissue, including inflammation and testicular discomfort in up to 19% of male patients.

While the effect of COVID-19 on sperm count is inconclusive at this stage, it is still highly unlikely that COVID vaccines can cause male infertility.

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Is there a link between vaccines and infertility in men? - Cosmos Magazine

Embryology

Assisted reproductive technology: Definition, types, and ethics – Medical News Today

Assisted reproductive technology (ART) refers to fertility treatments and procedures that can help with difficulties or an inability to conceive children. ART techniques involve the manipulation of eggs, sperm, or embryos to increase the likelihood of a successful pregnancy.

Infertility is when people cannot conceive after a period of regular sexual intercourse without the use of birth control. Evidence suggests that roughly 10% of women aged 1544 in the United States have difficulty conceiving or staying pregnant. Research also indicates that worldwide, 812% of couples experience fertility problems, and 4050% of cases may stem from factors that affect males.

According to the CDC, approximately 1.9% of all U.S. infants are born using ART. While the technology can be successful, it can also be expensive. Individuals wishing to conceive a child using ART in the U.S. can check their infertility coverage by state.

In this article, we will discuss some of the different types of ART, including their success rates, benefits, risks, costs, and the ethics of the technology.

ART refers to medical procedures that aim to achieve pregnancy. These complex treatments involve influencing gametes, or eggs and sperm, to increase the chances of fertilization. ART is typically an option for people for whom other infertility treatments may not work or those who have already tried treatment but have not become pregnant.

People considering ART will often discuss options with a healthcare professional and may require a consultation from a fertility specialist.

While people primarily use ART to address infertility, others may use it for genetic purposes or avoid pregnancy complications. Some people may also refer to ART as fertility treatment or medically assisted reproduction.

It may be difficult for many people to access fertility services such as ART due to its high cost and limited coverage by private insurance and Medicaid.

There are several types of ART procedures that involve different techniques and reproductive cells. A doctor can advise which ART will be most suitable depending on the circumstances. The most common type is in vitro fertilization (IVF).

IVF involves a doctor extracting eggs and fertilizing them in a special lab. Specialists can combine this with an embryo transfer (IVF-ET) and transfer the resulting embryos into a persons uterus. The Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology states that IVF-ET accounts for 99% of ART procedures.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lists the 2018 success rates of IVF treatments for one oocyte retrieval from people using their own eggs as:

A person may also use a tool called an IVF success estimator to estimate their chance of having a baby using IVF.

It may take more than one IVF cycle to result in pregnancy, and some people may not conceive with IVF at all. The benefits of IVF are an increased chance of fertilization and pregnancy. Potential complications may include:

The National Conference of State Legislatures lists the average cost of a single IVF cycle as $12,00017,000.

Click here to learn more about IVF.

Some methods of ART are similar to IVF but use laparoscopic surgery to deliver the gametes directly into the fallopian tube. Some people may choose this method for religious reasons, or their insurance may only cover this type of ART.

Similar to other forms of ART, there is an increased chance of multiple pregnancy. Additionally, due to the laparoscopy, there is a risk of complications from the surgery, such as infection, organ puncture, or side effects from anesthesia. Intrafallopian transfers are typically more expensive than IVF.

Due to the higher costs and risks of this type of ART, specialists rarely use these procedures. As such, there is not much data available on their success rates.

Types include:

Frozen embryo transfer (FET) has become increasingly common in the U.S. It involves thawing previously IVF frozen embryos and inserting them into a persons uterus. A 2017 study found that 52% of people who had FET had ongoing pregnancies.

According to the United Kingdoms Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, FET is as safe as using fresh embryos in treatment. However, some evidence suggests an increased risk of preterm birth with FET. Another possible risk of FET is that not all frozen embryos survive the thawing out process.

The estimated cost of FET varies but can be up to $6,000.

Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is a procedure that specialists can perform alongside IVF to help fertilize an egg. An embryologist, or embryo specialist, uses a tiny needle to inject a single sperm directly into the center of an egg.

ICSI fertilizes between 5080% of eggs. The success rate of ICSI is similar to those of IVF, and it may be an effective method of ART for people with sperm-related infertility. ICSI is typically an add-on procedure to IVF, so it will be more costly than IVF alone.

Things to consider about ICSI include the following:

Third-party ART is when another individual donates eggs, sperm, or embryos to an individual or couple. It can also include surrogate and gestational carriers. These refer to when another person is either inseminated with sperm from the couple using ART or implanted with an embryo from those using ART.

Evidence suggests that 50% of transfers with donated frozen embryos result in pregnancy, and 40% result in a live birth. Other benefits of third-party ART include the following:

Depending on which type people choose, third-party ART can be very costly. Sperm donation is typically the cheapest option, costing around $1,000 per vial.

The other options can vary in cost for a single vial, and many cycles will require multiple vials. Estimated costs are:

Preparation for an ART treatment includes practicing behaviors that may help improve the chances of ART success. This can involve dietary changes, such as taking supplements that a healthcare professional recommends and reducing alcohol and caffeine intake.

It could also involve regular exercise and quitting smoking. Once ART is successful, prenatal care and tests can keep the pregnant person and baby healthy during pregnancy.

Many aspects of ART raise ethical issues, such as:

There are no simple answers on the ethical issues of ART. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine has a collection of ethics documents available here.

Persons considering ART can review their state laws or call the Office on Womens Health Helpline at 1-800-994-9662.

Many types of ART are available to treat infertility. The success rates of ART vary according to the type of ART people choose, and factors such as the individuals age and health.

A specialist will suggest ART based on an individual or couples preferences and type of infertility while also weighing the risks, benefits, and costs.

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Assisted reproductive technology: Definition, types, and ethics - Medical News Today

Embryology

Polygenic screening of embryos is here, but is it ethical? – The Guardian

The birth of the first IVF baby, Louise Brown, in 1978 provoked a media frenzy. In comparison, a little girl named Aurea born by IVF in May 2020 went almost unnoticed. Yet she represents a significant first in assisted reproduction too, for the embryo from which she grew was selected from others based on polygenic screening before implantation, to optimise her health prospects.

For both scientific and ethical reasons, this new type of genetic screening is highly controversial. The nonprofit California-based organisation the Center for Genetics and Society (CGS) has called its use here a considerable reach by the assisted-reproduction industry in the direction of techno-eugenics.

The polygenic screening for Aurea was provided by a New Jersey-based company called Genomic Prediction. The gene-sequencing company Orchid Biosciences in California now also offers an embryo-screening package that assesses risks for common diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and schizophrenia.

Genetic screening of IVF embryos for health reasons, known as preimplantation genetic diagnosis or PGD, is not new in itself. In the UK, it is permitted by the Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority (HFEA), which regulates assisted conception technologies, to look for specific gene variants associated with around 500 diseases, including cystic fibrosis and Tay-Sachs disease.

The diseases conventionally screened with PGD are mostly caused by a mutation in only a single gene. They can be nasty but are typically rare. In contrast, most common health problems, such as heart diseases or type 2 diabetes, are polygenic: caused by complex interactions among several, often many, genes. Even if particular gene variants are known to increase risk, as for example with the BRCA1/2 variants associated with breast cancer, such links are probabilistic: theres no guarantee that people with that variant will get the disease or that those who lack it will not.

Thats simply how most genes work: in complex, interconnected and often poorly understood ways, so that the gene variants an individual carries dont guarantee which traits they will develop. And environmental factors such as upbringing and diet, as well as unpredictable quirks of embryo development, also have a role. Were products of (genetic) nature, nurture, chance and an interplay between all three.

Yet the availability today of genetic data for many thousands of individuals, thanks to the plummeting costs of genome sequencing and the popularity of genomic profiling companies such as 23AndMe and Orchid, has transformed our understanding of how genes relate to traits. The technique known as a genome-wide association study (GWAS) can sift through vast databanks to look for statistical associations between an individuals gene variants and pretty much any trait we choose. Such studies have found that often substantial amounts of the differences between individuals can be linked to different variants (alleles) of many genes. Each gene might contribute only a tiny effect too small to be apparent without plenty of data - but added together, the influence of the genes can be significant.

So someones genetic profile the variants in their personal genome can be used to make predictions about, say, how likely they are to develop heart disease in later life. They can be assigned a so-called polygenic risk score (PRS) for that condition. Aureas embryo was chosen because of low PRSs for heart disease, diabetes and cancer. PRSs can be used to predict other things too, such as a childs IQ and educational attainment.

But such predictions are probabilistic, both because we cant say exactly how our genes will play out in influencing that trait and because genes arent the only influence anyway. So theres nothing inevitable or deterministic about a PRS. An individual with a high PRS for skin cancer might never develop it, while someone who scores low might do so. Someone with a genetic profile that predicts a modest IQ might turn out to be brilliant.

This is one reason why using PRSs in embryo screening which is legal and largely unregulated in the US is controversial. Unlike single-gene diseases, where the health outcome can be almost certain, its not clear how much faith we can put in predictions for polygenic traits. Yet we make choices based on probabilities all the time. We cant be sure that a particular school will be best for our childs education, but we may decide it will improve the chances of a good outcome. If one embryo has low PRSs for common diseases and another has high ones, doesnt it make sense to pick the first? Aureas father, North Carolina neurologist Rafal Smigrodzki, has argued that part of a parents duty is to make sure to prevent disease in their child. Polygenic testing, he says, is just another way of doing that.

Embryo screening is already used for BRCA1 and 2, even though it is by no means certain that women who carry them will develop breast cancer. Advocates of PRS screening say that it merely improves the risk assessment by widening the genetic factors considered. Most families with a history of breast cancer do not carry the BRCA allele and would benefit from polygenic screening, says Genomic Predictions founder, Stephen Hsu, a professor of physics at Michigan State University. The potential public health benefits are huge. Ethics philosophers Sarah Munday and Julian Savulescu have argued in favour of allowing polygenic screening for any trait that can be shown to be correlated with a greater chance of a life with more well-being.

Theres a scientific basis to the concept [of PRSs] and its a type of genetic assessment that has a future in medicine, says bioethicist Vardit Ravitsky of the University of Montreal. Yet most regulators and many experts feel that there is not yet any justification for using them to try to improve the health outcomes of IVF children. Its not seen as ready for primetime use, says Ravitsky. Its still at a research stage. So when you start jumping straight into implementation, especially in a reproductive context, youre in a minefield. An article in the New England Journal of Medicine in July pointed out that benefits of PRS embryo selection are likely to be very small, all the more so for people not of European heritage, for whom genomic data are less extensive and so less reliable for prediction.

If PRS gives you the power to reduce your offsprings lifetime risk of type 2 diabetes from 30% to 27%, is that worth the time, money, and emotional investment? asks bioethicist Hank Greely of Stanford University in California. And to whom? Thats very different, he says, from the confidence with which single-gene diseases can be screened and avoided.

And once such screening methods are permitted, where does it stop? Already, American couples can screen embryos for gender, complexion and eye colour. Whats to stop a company offering to screen for a non-disease trait such as height or intelligence? Theres no reason to think polygenic embryo screening will end with conditions like heart disease and diabetes, says Katie Hasson, associate director of the CGS. Screening for schizophrenia and other mental illnesses is already on offer. These directly echo eugenic efforts to eliminate feeble-mindedness. We are talking about deciding who should be born based on good and bad genes.

Genomic Prediction has previously offered to screen for gene variants associated with intellectual disability, but Hsu stresses that now the company only offers the service for serious disease risks. We decided that traits like height and cognitive ability are too controversial and detract from our ability to help families reduce disease risk, he says.

Its not clear that screening for such non-disease traits would work anyway. I think the things that parents are most interested in, like intelligence, sports and musical ability, will have extremely small to nonexistent convincing PRS results, says Greely. A study in 2019 suggested that using polygenic screening to select embryos for height and IQ would be likely to make only a tiny difference on average and theres a fair chance you wouldnt end up picking the best embryo.

So what should be permitted? Hsu says: We hope that in the future, society as a whole, perhaps on a nation-by-nation basis, will reach a consensus on which non-disease traits are acceptable for embryo screening. Some have objected to his implication that, say, welfare dependence or criminality are in the genes. Hsu has also attracted controversy because of his comments on whether there are genetically based differences in IQ between racial groups, although he says he is agnostic on the issue. An outcry about his remarks on such matters compelled him to resign in 2020 as his universitys senior vice-president of research and innovation.

Hsu was also one of the scientists suggested by Dominic Cummings to run the UKs new Advanced Research and Invention Agency. In 2014, Cummings blogged about how the NHS should cover the cost of selecting embryos for IQ; in 2019, he was pictured outside 10 Downing Street with Hsu.

To avoid any Gattaca-style genetic stratification of society, Hsu has expressed the hope that progressive governments will make this procedure free for everyone. But Hasson believes that this wouldnt solve the problems of inequality that such techniques could exacerbate. Even if PRSs for smartness, say, have little real predictive value, she says that belief in genomic predictions can itself be a driver of intense inequalities in society by reinforcing ideas of genetic determinism. Families that invest their money, time and hopes in this kind of screening and selection will have children they believe are genetically superior and those children will be treated as superior by their parents, care-givers and educators.

Social pressure could make it hard to resist polygenic screening if its on offer in our hyper-competitive societies. Once you do IVF, you feel pressure to use any add-on service or test that the clinic offers you, says Ravitsky. Look at what happens today when a woman declines prenatal screening or amniocentesis. Many women feel judged, not just by peers but by healthcare providers. The idea that its all about autonomy of choice can be an illusion, she says.

Even if PRSs have little real value in forecasting the prospects of a child, evidently a market exists for them. In countries such as the US where assisted conception is weakly regulated, companies can make unrealistic and exploitative promises. Couples might even elect to have a child via IVF specifically to avail themselves of such opportunities. Its a gruelling process that carries risks in itself, but women might feel compelled to use it, even though Ravitsky thinks that allowing someone to do so for this reason alone would be borderline malpractice.

Yet the genie is out of the bottle. I believe that polygenic screening will become very common in the near future, Hsu says. Reasonable people will wonder why the technology was ever controversial at all, just as in the case of IVF. The HFEA is still considering its implications, says its chief executive, Peter Thompson, who stresses that it is currently illegal in the UK. Even if there were more scientific consensus about the value of PRSs, he adds, there is an important distinction between embryo selection to avoid serious harm and for so-called enhancement, like greater intelligence. The latter would represent a fundamental public policy shift. It raises a range of ethical concerns and could only be contemplated if it has the backing of society more generally, he says.

We urgently need public and policy conversations about polygenic embryo screening, says Hasson. Finding the right balance between autonomy and social responsibility is the fundamental dilemma of liberal democracies. We let people spend their money, and make decisions powerfully affecting their kids, on far more clearly bogus information than PRS, says Greely.

As a society, were very far from knowing how we want to use these potential technologies, says Ravitsky, but, she adds, we are already living in the grey zone.

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Polygenic screening of embryos is here, but is it ethical? - The Guardian

Embryology

Opinion: Ireland’s outdated definition of ‘Mother’ leaves thousands of families in limbo – TheJournal.ie

ITS INCREDIBLY SAD when your children have fewer rights than other children because of who you love and who you want to spend the rest of your life with.

Irene moved home with her wife Maude and their two children from Belgium last year: We quickly realised our childrens legal connection to my wife had been stripped away just by moving across borders. Maude is our childrens genetic mother. Legally, she is a stranger.

Under Irish law, children who are donor-conceived and born outside of Ireland to same-sex parents cannot be legally connected to both parents. This is based on the patriarchal definition of mother enshrined in Irish law as a female who gives birth. This characterisation assumes that the only way to be an emotional and physical caregiver is to give birth.

Yet, for heterosexual couples with donor-conceived children, even when the child isnt genetically connected to either parent, as long as the mother gives birth, both parents are automatically on the birth certificate.

Assisted reproduction

The Children and Family Relationships Act signed into Irish law last May stipulates if a child is born through assisted reproduction, both parents can now be on the birth certificate.

But you must be two women who conceive through an Irish fertility clinic, with a traceable sperm donor and your children must be born in Ireland. Couples can apply for retrospective parentage, even if they used a foreign clinic but only if their children were conceived before May 2020 and were born in Ireland. Gay male couples who use surrogacy and thousands of families like Irene and Maudes are excluded.

Irene and Maudes two children were conceived through Reciprocal IVF in Belgium. This means the couple used Maudes eggs but Irene was their childrens birth mother. Despite this, Maude has no legal claim to her biological children because she didnt physically give birth and they were born in Belgium.

Irene and Maude with family Source: Dearbhla Crosse

Ranae von Meding, CEO of Equality for Children, and her wife Audrey faced similar difficulties prior to the change in the law.

I gave birth to both of our children but my wife is their biological mother. We are covered under recent legislation as our children were born in Ireland and conceived before 2020. But we still havent been able to get their birth certificates changed.

The majority of LGBT+ couples and around one in six heterosexual couples in Ireland require assisted reproduction to conceive a child. Since Ireland is one of two EU countries not providing public funding for fertility treatment, the cost is so prohibitive that many are forced to access services abroad. Back in 2015, Reciprocal IVF wasnt even available in Ireland so Ranae and Audrey had Reciprocal IVF in Spain and their embryos are still in Portugal.

If we want to use our embryos, any future children we have wont be covered as technically they will have been conceived after May 2020. Potentially we could face a situation where some of our children would have legal rights to both their parents but our other children wont.

Surrogacy

When it comes to surrogacy, there isnt any legislation. Infertility, medical conditions or being in a same-sex couple are just three reasons why people consider surrogacy. A woman (surrogate) gives birth to a child on behalf of a couple or individual usually by carrying the embryo created solely by the intended parents.

Many Irish heterosexual couples undergo surrogacy in Ukraine where they are automatically the legal parents once the child is born. Yet, under Irish law, the surrogate is considered the mother, even if she has no biological link to the child. The legal definition of mother discriminates against all couples who use surrogacy as their child is birthed by a surrogate.

Although mothers can apply for guardianship after two years, this only lasts until the child is 18. In theory, a mother can gain legal rights to her child by adopting them but so far no family has been successful. This is because certain medical issues like previous cancer are the very reason women who choose surrogacy cannot avail of adoption.

Aisling had twins through surrogacy in Ukraine in 2017 after recurrent miscarriages. Yet, she wasnt entitled to maternity leave a right afforded to all other parents, including adoptive parents. She also cant bring her children out of Ireland without signed permission from their father.

The Report of the Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction recommended that a child born through surrogacy should be that of the commissioning couple.

As Aisling says, legislature must allow us to be legal mothers; I am the only mother my children have ever known.

As Ukraine only allows heterosexual couples to avail of surrogacy, same-sex couples go to the UK, US, or Canada. Gordon and his husband Dan went to Canada as it was important to have both their names on the birth certificate. But as soon they got to Ireland, it was invalid because the mother who gave birth has to be on it.

Their daughter was born in Canada during lockdown last year just before Canada was placed on the mandatory hotel quarantine list.

We said we couldnt quarantine in a hotel in Dublin with our three-year-old and two-week-old baby but were told if we got arrested our children would be taken away from us as legally we had no claim. Fortunately, the government changed the criteria allowing babies 30 days or younger to quarantine at home. We flew on her the 29th day.

But while transiting through Heathrow, security confiscated the breastmilk, leaving them without even formula to feed their daughter. Gordon says:

Border control asked what our relationship was to our children despite showing them the documents. Eventually they agreed to issue our children visitors visas as they have Canadian passports. We nearly missed the flight. We had no bags, no buggies, no breastmilk. I cried all the way home.

Biological fathers arent automatically recognised under Irish law and the legal father of the child is the person married to the surrogate. Gordon says the government shouldnt just fix the legislation for one group but fix it for everyone, We have to prove guardianship in court. In Canada, there are legal frameworks in place to protect both us as parents and our surrogate. The legal hoops and costs it takes to bring children born to a surrogate home to Ireland are discriminatory. All I want is for future generations to not have to deal with this.

Why the delays?

EU Commission President Ursula Van der Leyen has stated that a parent in one country should be considered a parent in all countries. So why is this not the case?

Firstly, Irish law has not caught up with developments in embryology and assisted reproduction legislation. Equally, Irene says, Its difficult to ensure parentage in one EU member state transfers to another. Family law and the definition of a family is a member state competence, which isnt something the EU can impose.

Gordon, Dan and their eldest child Tadhg. Source: Dan and Gordon

The Irish state is however legally obliged to comply with the Convention of the Rights of the Child within which Article 8 requires recognition of parent-child relationships involving a genetic link. So far, it hasnt.

For the first five years of their childrens lives, Ranaes wife Audrey wasnt legally allowed to do anything.

A parent who isnt considered a legal parent cant make basic decisions about their childs upbringing like consent to a blood test, a vaccination or educational facilities. Children wouldnt benefit from the same family inheritance law.

Ranae says, If the legal parent were to become incapacitated, the unrecognised parent has no legal right to their child and thats very frightening.

With surrogacy, as legal guardianship ends at 18, children wont be able to make future decisions about parental care if anything unexpected happened.

Secondly, there is no internationally accepted legislation on surrogacy. Commercial surrogacy is still illegal here and throughout most of Europe. But like most reproductive health restrictions, making it illegal doesnt make it safer.

This leads to concerns not only for the protection of intending parents but the welfare of surrogate mothers. Irish Families Through Surrogacy says Irish solicitors only work with reputable clinics in Ukraine and the Irish embassy there will help ensure more stringent parameters, yet more urgent legislation in Ireland is needed to protect our children.

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Karen Tobin, partner at Family law firm Comyn Kelleher Tobin says, the Assisted Reproduction Bill wont go far enough in its current format as it only considers altruistic surrogacy with a genetic connection and doesnt include international surrogacy.

The further delay on international surrogacy legislation announced this week is another devastating blow to the thousands of families in legal limbo. Irish Families Through Surrogacy expressed its dismay at the Sunday Business Post report that this will now no longer happen due to legal constraints.

The 1994 Hague Convention significantly improved international adoption standards, so similar criteria is necessary for the regulation of surrogacy, such as a register of countries with like-minded human rights charters.

The State is failing to recognise the varying facets of parenthood. At a minimum, birth certificates should simply register parents and the definition of mother must be amended to reflect this. As the fabric of families changes, so too must Irish law.

As Ranae says, Ireland should be shamed for what theyve done to our families. In 2015, Ireland said yes to love. What we have now isnt equal.

Dearbhla Crosse is a freelance writer, teacher and advocate on sexual and reproductive health and rights.

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Embryology

Earliest evidence of herd-living and age segregation amongst dinosaurs | Scientific Reports – Nature.com

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Earliest evidence of herd-living and age segregation amongst dinosaurs | Scientific Reports - Nature.com

Embryology

Studies offer insight into how the human body develops and acquires mutations throughout life – News-Medical.net

New insights into how the human body develops from one cell into trillions, and the genetic mutations that cells pick up along the way, have been generated by two studies from scientists at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the University of Cambridge and their collaborators.

The studies, published today (25 August 2021) in Nature, are the first to analyze somatic mutation in normal tissues across multiple organs within and between individuals. Researchers were able to retrace human development, including in a 78-year old individual, all the way back to the first cell division, as well as confirm that the mutation rate in the germline cells is much lower than in the other tissues of the body.

This fundamental knowledge will help to establish baselines for human development and how we acquire mutations throughout life, in both the cells of our body and the genetic code that is passed on to the next generation. Knowing what normal development and ageing looks like will in turn help to better understand the onset of disease.

In recent years, technological and experimental advances have allowed researchers to study somatic mutation in healthy tissue. This has been achieved by taking micro-biopsies of just a few hundred cells, which are then genome sequenced to an incredibly high degree of accuracy.

From the very first cell division, an individuals cells experience damage to their genome. Most of this damage is repaired by the cell, but some changes to the letters of DNA, known as somatic mutations, persist. Through cell division, these mutations are then passed on to the next generation of cells by progenitor cells. When two cells share the same mutations, this implies a shared ancestry and these markers can be used to trace development back through time.

The genetic code that is passed on via sperm and egg cells during reproduction, known as the germline, has long been thought to be protected from the mutational processes that occur in the rest of the body as we age. This helps to ensure that individuals start life with a genome that is intact, or free from the mutations acquired by the parents during their lives.

For these studies, samples of normal tissue from three adult individuals were supplied by researchers at the MRC Cancer Unit, University of Cambridge and a commercial provider. Researchers at the Wellcome Sanger Institute used laser microdissection to cut out tiny biopsies of just a few hundred cells, covering a wide range of tissues from each donor. These biopsies were then whole genome sequenced so that somatic mutations within and between individuals could be compared.

In one study, researchers created a family tree of cell lineages for each individual stretching all the way back to the fertilized egg of each person. By analyzing genomes from the different tissues they could use mutations shared by cells to trace how the tissues of the body had formed from a single cell.

This analysis revealed significant variation between individuals in which cells went on to form particular tissues. For example, the two progenitor cells created by the division of the fertilized egg cell contributed relatively equally to the body of one individual, but in another donor 93 per cent of their cells were descended from just one of the original progenitors.

Dr Tim Coorens, a first author of the studies from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said: By examining the history of each cell, weve been able to retrace the development of a 78-year-old person all the way back to the first cell division. It was surprising to find how much variation there was in human development between individuals, and especially between tissues in the same person. Its not as straightforward as the same set of cells contributing to the heart or kidneys, say, in every person. What our study makes clear is that human embryology is not set in stone.

In the other study, scientists analyzed the genomic data to compare the mutational landscape in 29 different tissues. Researchers at Newcastle University supplied samples from a further 11 men, from which a further 162 micro-biopsies were taken to explore germline mutation in greater detail.

Such analysis is able to detect patterns of mutation, known as mutational signatures, that can be attributed to particular biological processes or substances the body is exposed to that alter the genome, such as alcohol or tobacco.

The team found ubiquitous mutational signatures across all of the tissues studied, including two that result from the normal functioning of human cells, called SBS1 and SBS5. Other signatures were specific to certain tissues, such as SBS18, which may be indicative of oxidative damage. There was substantial variability in the mutational landscape between tissues in the same individual.

Notably, the mutation rate for spermatogonia immature sperm cells derived from stem cells in the testes was found to be much lower than for other cells in the body.

Dr Raheleh Rahbari, a senior author of the studies from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said: This study advances our understanding of the diversity of mutation rates and processes within the human body. It has long been suspected that the germline acquires fewer mutations than other cells, in order to preserve the genome that will be passed on to the next generation. Here we reveal for the first time that low germline mutation rate is not the result of selection of sperm with fewer mutations during conception or development, but is a global feature of the male germline compared to other cells. But what is not clear is how spermatogonia, which must divide to create vast numbers of sperm cells, maintain such a low mutation rate.

The studies will help to establish baselines of normal development and how we acquire mutations throughout life.

Exploring the human body via the mutations cells acquire as we age is as close as we can get to studying human biology in vivo. Our life history can be found in the history of our cells, but these studies show that this history is more complex than we might have assumed.

Dr Luiza Moore, First Study Author, Wellcome Sanger Institute

Professor Sir Mike Stratton, a senior author of the studies and Director of the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said: These studies explore the landscape of mutations that normally occur during the course of life in every cell of the human body, providing new insights into human development and important differences between cell types.

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Studies offer insight into how the human body develops and acquires mutations throughout life - News-Medical.net

Embryology

Mississippi Asks SCOTUS to Overturn Roe | Josh Hammer – First Things

Next term, the Supreme Court will hear Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization, the case concerning Mississippis statutory 15-week gestational ban on most abortions. Dobbs represents the best chance in decades for a legal breakthrough in the fight against abortion. Earlier this month, Robert P. George wrote that in Mississippis Dobbs brief, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch should call for the overturning of Roe v. Wade and its progeny, Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

Her brief is due on July 22, George wrote on July 1. And if Attorney General Fitch waters down her arguments to the Court, contrary to her duties to the state, to the pro-life voters who elected her, and to the causes of justice and the rule of law, there must be a severe political reckoning.

That brief has now been filed, and Fitch has delivered the goods. RoeandCaseyare . . . at odds with the straightforward, constitutionally grounded answer to the question presented [in this case], Fitch wrote last Thursday on behalf of her client, the Magnolia State. So the question becomes whether this Court should overrule those decisions. It should.

Bravo. This is outstanding news.

Sherif Girgis has argued that upholding Mississippis law on narrow grounds, in such a way that Roe and Casey are not themselves disturbed, would be exceedingly difficult if not impossible. The duly enacted Mississippi statute challenged in Dobbs is indeed at loggerheads with Roe and Casey, as both Robert George and Ed Whelan have argued. Anything less than a clarion call from Mississippis leading advocate to overturn those cases standing in the way of upholding that statute would have represented a dereliction of duty.

Fitch deserves credit not merely for her admirably pellucid language about Roe and CaseyRoe and Casey are egregiously wrongbut also for her strong contention that traditional stare decisis norms ought not to prevent the actual overturning of these deeply flawed constitutional precedents. As Michael Stokes Paulsen and I (among others) have argued, judicial reliance upon stare decisis norms in constitutional interpretation in our system of governance is not merely contrary to sound principles of judging: For the most part, such reliance is actually unconstitutional.

While stare decisis in English common law developed as an indispensable and conservative doctrine based in historical empiricism and epistemological humility, its operation in the context of United States constitutional interpretation is not at all analogous to that distant English forebear.

Under the Constitutions Article VI Oath Clause, all legislative, executive, and judicial officers of both the federal and state governments vow to support this Constitutionnot this Constitution as nine justices have interpreted it or misinterpreted it, but this Constitution. Period. As I argued last year: For the same reason the Article VI Oath Clause instructs a judge to prefer the Constitution tostatutesrepugnant theretothe crux of Chief Justice Marshalls 1803 ruling in Marbury v. Madisonso too does it necessarily instruct judges to prefer the Constitution tojudicial precedentsrepugnant thereto. And when a precedent is demonstrably erroneous, as Roe and Casey are, it may not even remain relevant for future adjudications on the underlying matter.

AG Fitchs brief is also distinguished by the inclusion of a subsection about recent advances in embryology and prenatal science that undermine Roes emphasis on viability as the gestational point before which a states interest in prenatal life is not strong enough to warrant an abortion ban. She even noted that the U.S. finds itself in the company of China and North Korea as some of the only countries that permit elective abortions after 20 weeks gestation. Other legal advocates might have shied away from such a bold line, preferring to make that pointed comparison in an op-ed and not a legal brief. But pro-lifers should be grateful that the justices on the high court will now see that stark and bloody reality laid out so clearly.

The Dobbs case, once it reaches the marble palace, will be a moment of truth. For pro-lifers who want nothing more than to put an end to this nations horrific five-decade-old experiment in state-sanctioned prenatal infanticide, it is time to begin praying. In the interim, Attorney General Fitch has gotten us off to a fine start.

Josh Hammer isNewsweekopinion editor, a research fellow at the Edmund Burke Foundation, and a contributing editor of Anchoring Truths.

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Embryology

First Lady moves to transform healthcare – The Herald

The Herald

Tendai Rupapa-Senior Reporter

ZIMBABWE has, courtesy of First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwas partnership with Merck Foundation, provided more than 100 scholarships to Zimbabwean doctors in many critical specialties and under-served disciplines as part of a drive to transform healthcare quality and allow equitable access for all.

This is the first time since Independence in 1980 that a First Lady has led from the front and made interventions to ensure the nation accesses quality healthcare facilities.

Amai Mnangagwa, an ambassador for Merck More than a Mother, yesterday co-chaired Merck Foundations virtual annual summit with the organisations chief executive Dr Rasha Kelej.

She is also the countrys Health ambassador.

Areas covered by the scholarships, the First Lady said, included Fertility and Embryology, Oncology, Diabetes, Cardiovascular, Endocrinology, Sexual and Reproductive Medicine, Respiratory, Acute Medicines, Clinical Microbiology and infectious diseases.

Through the said scholarships, United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) now boasts a facility offering services to infertility patients.

Journalists have also benefited from the partnership and got an opportunity to sharpen their skills in reporting sensitive issues around infertility which are often stigmatised.

Yesterdays summit discussed capacity-building and development programmes aimed at transforming the landscape of patient care and make a history in Zimbabwe.

Id like to welcome all of you our doctors, the future healthcare experts who have either already graduated or undergoing or will join soon Merck Foundation scholarships of specialty training in critical and under-served specialities.

And to also meet the winners of all Merck Foundation Media Recognition Awards who are our health and social community champions to break infertility stigma and raise awareness about other health and social issues such as girl education and the ongoing coronavirus. I am proud of each one of you, keep up the good work, she said.

The First Lady said her partnership with Merck Foundation helped to reshape the public healthcare sector in Zimbabwe through training and mentorship for media partners to improve their role in effective community awareness.

In this difficult time of the third wave of coronavirus, she said it was critical to discuss the right strategy to address the global crisis and benefit from members training experience and many success stories.

Ladies and gentlemen; especially during the Covid-19 global crisis and lockdown, we are interested more than ever in building healthcare capacity and training our local doctors who are our first line defence and the heroes of our coronavirus battle.

We were also interested more than ever to advance our media capacity through health training and mentorship programmes and awards to improve the awareness about Covid-19 and how to stay safe and healthy during our day to day life, she said.

The First Lady said more than nine doctors had either graduated or enrolled in a Fertility and Embryology Training Programme in India, while over 20 doctors from different provinces in Zimbabwe were either undergoing or had been shortlisted for online one-year diploma in Sexual and Reproductive Medicines from South Wales, UK or Two-year Masters Degree in the Biotechnology of Human Assisted Reproduction and Embryology Valencia University, Spain.

Together with Ministry of Health we will follow up to ensure they are making a good use of this great opportunity so that they can help women in general and infertile couples in particular, across the country. Also, we are transforming the diabetes care in our country. More than 55 scholarships of one-year diploma, two-year master degree or master course have been provided to our doctors in the field of diabetes care.

Furthermore, together we enrolled five doctors to One-Year Online Post Graduate Diploma in Endocrinology and six doctors in one-year Preventive Cardiovascular Medicines Diploma from University of South Wales. Moreover, one doctor has been enrolled to One Year Fellowship in Surgical Oncology, in India, and will start as soon as the travel restrictions are lifted.

As the Merck more than a Mother ambassador, the First Lady said she would work in collaboration with various ministries to sensitise communities and rural areas to break the stigma around infertile women and to empower them through access to information, education, health and change of mindset.

She emphasised that the media has an important role to play in raising awareness to creating a culture shift to break infertility stigma.

We also organised Merck Foundation Health Media Training for journalists to educate them on how to be the voice of the voiceless and raise awareness on sensitive issues like breaking infertility stigma, she said.

Co-chairing the summit with Amai Mnangagwa, Senator Dr Kelej said their joint programmes sought to transform the patient care landscape in Zimbabwe through building healthcare capacity and raising awareness about breaking infertility stigma and support girl education.

By building professional healthcare capacity, we have been able to transform the landscape of patient care in Zimbabwe. This is a huge achievement.

I am happy to meet (virtually) our alumni and discuss their impact on improving the quality of healthcare in the country after receiving specialised medical scholarships provided by Merck Foundation.

Moreover, I am equally excited to meet the winners of the Merck Foundation Media Recognition Awards and to discuss with them the significant role they have been playing to break the stigma around infertility, empowering girls and women through education, and raising awareness about coronavirus, Dr Kelej said.

She said through her foundations partnership with Amai Mnangagwa, they had been able to reshape the landscape of Zimbabwes healthcare sector and empower healthcare providers and motivate them to provide better care to people, especially during this difficult time of Covid-19.

Moreover, together with Zimbabwe First Lady, Merck Foundation has introduced 6 important Awards for Media, Fashion, Film, and Music fraternity, she said.

Alumni from Merck Foundations initiatives also shared with the meeting their gratitude and how they had benefited from the First Ladys partnership with Merck Foundation.

Gynaecologist Dr Harrison Rambanepasi expressed gratitude for the opportunity he got to train in fertility and other associated fields.

The training was in India for three months.

I have also enrolled for a diploma in sexual and reproductive medicine with University of South Wales. Its an online one year course fully funded by the Merck Foundation.

There is an option to do a Masters degree. The training helps to enhance ones understanding of infertility issues and puts you in a better place to evaluate and treat patients having infertility problems, he said.

Dr Rambanepasi said following the training, he received, he had started seeing infertility patients at United Bulawayo Hospitals.

We evaluate them to try to find out what the cause of their infertility is. Before this scholarship training, it would have been impossible to try and start an infertility clinic at UBH. The challenge we have is that most of our patients cannot afford the various tests that are required as part of evaluation of infertile couples.

Unfortunately, Government hospitals are not doing most of the tests required so patients have to go to private laboratories and the costs there are prohibitive, he said.

Another beneficiary, Dr Mugove Madzivire, an obstetrician and gynaecologist who also lectures at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ), expressed gratitude and said he was already using the wealth of experience he gained in his work and teachings.

I have acquired a lot through my training in intra and IVF through the Merck sponsorship. I acquired a host of diagnostic skills. I acquired proficiency in intravenous scanning. I also benefited through therapeutic skills and I was then able to do wall-side retrievals and prescribe IVF cycles, he said.

Dr Madzivire said when he came back from the Merck sponsored fellowship, he was able to increase his service to patients and impart the knowledge to his students.

He thanked the First Lady for the opportunity which he said would benefit the nation.

The Heralds Features, Health and Society Editor, Roselyn Sachiti, said the training she received from Merck Foundation had helped broaden her horizons and application as a journalist.

The training from Merck Foundation, in partnership with First Lady Amai Mnangagwa, has helped me broaden my horizons and knowledge around infertility. I now have a better understanding of and appreciation of how infertility affects both men and women equally, the challenges they face, she said.

Sachiti paid tribute to Amai Mnangagwa for the work she was doing in raising awareness on infertility and the support she was giving women and couples faced with infertility.

Through her work, Amai Mnangagwa has reached out to affected couples. As the media we will continue to support her work through the articles we write to raise awareness on infertility. I also thank Dr Kelej for the work she is doing in Africa, not just training the media, giving out awards, but supporting doctors with training in underserved disciplines, she said.

Another winning journalist, Tashinga Masawi said infertility was one of the most challenging things one could go through in life.

The random comments and statements that people find so easy to throw around when they assume one should be with a child cause so much pain and discomfort to many who are struggling with infertility issues. One of the things that makes this battle even more difficult is the culture of secrecy around the issue and the belief that infertility is a womans problem. This is why initiatives by the First Lady and the Merck Foundation are important and effective, she said.

The efforts that our First Lady Amai Mnangagwa have put in addressing sensitive issues are indeed timely and without a doubt something our generation needs. I am grateful to our First Lady Amai Mnangagwa, Dr Rasha Kelej and the Merck Foundation for giving the African woman a voice.

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First Lady moves to transform healthcare - The Herald

Embryology

Limits for human embryo research have been changed : This calls for public debate – Down To Earth Magazine

The new regulation makes it possible to conduct research on human embryos that are at more advanced stages of development

For 40 years, research into early human development has been guided by the principle that after 14 days, an embryo should not be used for research and must be destroyed. This rule has been part of the law of more than 12 countries. But new guidelines released by the International Society for Stem Cell Research have removed this rule. This makes it possible to conduct research on human embryos that are at more advanced stages of development.

Now, countries must revise their laws, policies and guidelines to reflect this change. But first, public debate is crucial to determine the limits of what sort of research should be allowed.

Over the decades human embryo research has allowed us to understand normal and abnormal human development, as well as early genetic diseases and disorders. Studying human embryos, as the earliest forms of human life, can give us insight into why miscarriages occur, and how our complex body systems develop. Human embryos are also important for stem cell research, where researchers try and create cell-based therapies to treat human diseases.

Often, extra embryos are created during in-vitro fertilisation procedures. These extra embryos may be donated for research. They are cultured (or grown) in a laboratory and can be studied until they reach day 14 post-creation.

The 14-day rule has served as an international standard since 1990 when it was included in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act in the United Kingdom. At the time that it was introduced, it was not possible to keep human embryos alive in a laboratory for more than a few days. However, scientists have been recently been able to keep embryos alive for longer periods, between 12 and 13 days. The ethical, legal and social consequences of such research were also important considerations.

The 14-day rule and the new guidelines

Although the 14-day rule has been criticised as being arbitrarily decided, there are a number of reasons for the time frame.

After an egg cell is fertilised by a sperm cell, the resulting embryo consists of a few identical cells. Most embryos will implant in the uterus after the 14th day. After this point, the primitive streak appears, which is the first sign of an embryos developing nervous system. The rule also identified the point at which the embryo shows signs of individuation, because it is no longer possible for the embryo to split into twins after 14 days. Some people reason that due to these events, it is at this stage that a moral being comes into existence, and it would not be ethical to perform research on embryos after this time.

There has been increasing pressure from some researchers to remove the 14-day rule, or at least extend it, as it prevents critical research from being undertaken. Extending the rule would allow important research into early human development to be done. The new guidelines make it possible to do research on embryos older than 14 days if the approval processes of the relevant ethics committees are followed.

A significant problem, however, is that there is no longer any limit on the time frame for research. Would it be permissible to do research on human embryos that are 20 days old or 40 days old? The guidelines specify no limit. The longer a human embryo is allowed to grow, the more recognisably human it becomes. At what point would we regard the research unethical, and at what point does the moral cost outweigh the benefits of research?

What the law says

Countries around the world take a variety of approaches to human embryo research. Some like Italy and Germany dont allow it at all. Others, like the UK, allow research to continue until the embryo is 14 days old, after which it must be destroyed. There are also some which permit embryo research without identifying a limit. Some, like the United States, do not have any law regulating it (but there are guidelines which contain reference to the 14-day rule).

In South Africa, reference to the rule is found in the National Health Act (2003), which states that human embryo research may only be done with permission of the minister, and that the embryos must not be older than 14 days.

International guidelines are not legally binding. But the effect of the revised guidelines is that the international standard for best practice in scientific research has now changed. This means that countries which have implemented the rule in their laws will need to revise them so that they are in line with best practice in science.

The future of human embryo research

Human embryo research is a sensitive topic because people are divided on the moral status of the human embryo. Some people believe that the embryo, as the earliest form of human life, should be protected and not subjected to research at all. Others believe that while an embryo has some moral status, it cannot be protected in the same way as humans are, and may be used for some important research which could ultimately benefit people.

The decision to discard the 14-rule appears to have been made without public input. That does not encourage the public to trust in science, and public engagement should have come before such an an important rule was changed.

There are a number of approaches to working with the revised guidance. Bioethicist Franoise Baylis has suggested that project-specific time limits should be identified, based on the minimum amount of time required to address the stated research objectives. This would mean that some research would still be subject to the 14-day limit, while other studies would be permitted to exceed it. Another approach would be to keep the 14-day limit as the norm, and consider applications to exceed it case by case. Or the limit could be extended to 28 days.

The coming conversations surrounding embryo research will prove to be very important. The proverbial genie is out of the bottle, and public debate is crucial.

Sheetal Soni, Researcher, Lecturer, Attorney, University of KwaZulu-Natal

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Limits for human embryo research have been changed : This calls for public debate - Down To Earth Magazine