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Who will oversee the ethical limits of human embryo research?

Nature Biotechnology volume 40, pages 463–464 (2022)Cite this article

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Since 1984 and the Warnock report7, research on human embryo has been guided by the ‘14-day rule’, which indicates that human embryos must not be cultured “beyond 14 days or primitive-streak formation”. But as human embryo culture has continued to make advances, this rule has begun to be called into question8. Earlier this year, this prompted a re-examination of the rule by the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR).

As outlined in your August editorial last year9, the ISSCR has ultimately resolved to set aside the 14-day rule, leaving the adjudication of human “embryo culture beyond 14 days and into primitive streak formation and gastrulation” to “national academies of sciences, academic societies, funders, and regulators”8. In turn, the latter are to “lead public conversations on the scientific significance as well as the societal, moral, and ethical issues” of human embryo cultures with a duration that extends beyond the 14-day mark8. Assuming ‘broad public support’ for extending the duration of human embryo cultures beyond the 14-day time point, careful review of the added value and indispensability of all such research projects by a ‘specialized oversight process’ would be required8. Parallel efforts would have to be invested in assuring that “only a minimal number of human embryos are used to achieve the research objectives”8.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

    Eli Y. Adashi

  2. Harvard Law School & Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

    I. Glenn Cohen

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  1. Eli Y. Adashi
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  2. I. Glenn Cohen
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Correspondence to Eli Y. Adashi.

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Competing interests

E.Y.A. declares no competing interests. I.G.C. a member of the Illumina ethics advisory board and the Bayer Bioethics Council.

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Adashi, E.Y., Cohen, I.G. Who will oversee the ethical limits of human embryo research?. Nat Biotechnol 40, 463–464 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-022-01274-6

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