Report of the Committee of Inquiry Into Human Fertilisation and Embryology

Report of the Committee of Inquiry Into Human Fertilisation and Embryology
Author: Great Britain. Committee of Inquiry into Human Fertilisation and Embryology
Publisher:
Total Pages: 128
Release: 1984
Genre: Artificial insemination
ISBN:

The Report of the Committee of Inquiry into Human Fertilisation and Embryology (1984) (the “Warnock report”) set out the regulatory framework and ethical consensus that still govern human fertilisation today. It was the work of a committee chaired by Warnock, which had spent two years painstakingly sifting evidence from doctors, scientists, anti-abortion groups, faith leaders, and many more.The inquiry was prompted by new in vitro fertilisation (IVF) techniques, which led to the birth of the first “test tube” baby, Louise Brown, in 1978. Some were uneasy about the ethics of IVF, and by 1980 MPs were lobbying for an inquiry.

The Cambridge Handbook of Health Research Regulation

The Cambridge Handbook of Health Research Regulation
Author: Graeme Laurie
Publisher:
Total Pages: 444
Release: 2021-06-09
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1108576095

The definitive reference guide to designing scientifically sound and ethically robust medical research, considering legal, ethical and practical issues.

The Human Embryo In Vitro

The Human Embryo In Vitro
Author: Catriona A. W. McMillan
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2021-04-01
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1108945163

The Human Embryo in vitro explores the ways in which UK law engages with embryonic processes under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 (as amended), the intellectual basis of which has not been reconsidered for almost thirty years. McMillan argues that in regulating 'the embryo' – that is, a processual liminal entity in itself - the law is regulating for uncertainty. This book offers a fuller understanding of how complex biological processes of development and growth can be better aligned with a legal framework that purports to pay respect to the embryo while also allowing its destruction. To do so it employs an anthropological concept, liminality, which is itself concerned with revealing the dynamics of process. The implications of this for contemporary regulation of artificial reproduction are fully explored, and recommendations are offered for international regimes on how they can better align biological reality with social policy and law.

Embryo Experimentation

Embryo Experimentation
Author: Peter Singer
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 284
Release: 1993
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 9780521435888

New developments in reproductive technology have made headlines since the birth of the world's first in vitro fertilization baby in 1978. But is embryo experimentation ethically acceptable? What is the moral status of the early human embryo? And how should a democratic society deal with so controversial an issue, where conflicting views are based on differing religious and philosophical positions? These controversial questions are the subject of this book, which, as a current compendium of ideas and arguments on the subject, makes an original contribution of major importance to this debate. Peter Singer is the author of many books, including Practical Ethics (CUP, 1979), Marx (Hill & Wang, 1980), and Should the Baby Live? (co-authored with Helga Kuhse, Oxford U.P., 1986).

Examining the State of the Science of Mammalian Embryo Model Systems

Examining the State of the Science of Mammalian Embryo Model Systems
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 155
Release: 2020-08-31
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0309676681

Because of the recent advances in embryo modeling techniques, and at the request of the Office of Science Policy in the Office of the Director at the National Institutes of Health, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, hosted a 1-day public workshop that would explore the state of the science of mammalian embryo model systems. The workshop, which took place on January 17, 2020, featured a combination of presentations, panels, and general discussions, during which panelists and participants offered a broad range of perspectives. Participants considered whether embryo model systems - especially those that use nonhuman primate cells - can be used to predict the function of systems made with human cells. Presentations provided an overview of the current state of the science of in vitro development of human trophoblast. This publication summarizes the presentation and discussion of the workshop.

The Dance of Life

The Dance of Life
Author: Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 268
Release: 2020-02-27
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0753552949

'Quite simply the best book about science and life that I have ever read' - Alice Roberts How does life begin? What drives a newly fertilized egg to keep dividing and growing until it becomes 40 trillion cells, a greater number than stars in the galaxy? How do these cells know how to make a human, from lips to heart to toes? How does your body build itself? Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz was pregnant at 42 when a routine genetic test came back with that dreaded word: abnormal. A quarter of sampled cells contained abnormalities and she was warned her baby had an increased risk of being miscarried or born with birth defects. Six months later she gave birth to a healthy baby boy and her research on mice embryos went on to prove that – as she had suspected – the embryo has an amazing and previously unknown ability to correct abnormal cells at an early stage of its development. The Dance of Life will take you inside the incredible world of life just as it begins and reveal the wonder of the earliest and most profound moments in how we become human. Through Magda’s trailblazing research as a professor at Cambridge – where she has doubled the survival time of human embryos in the laboratory, and made the first artificial embryo-like structures from stem cells – you’ll discover how early life is programmed to repair and organise itself, what this means for the future of pregnancy, and how we might one day solve IVF disorders, prevent miscarriages and learn more about the dance of life as it starts to take shape. The Dance of Life is a moving celebration of the balletic beauty of life’s beginnings.

The Ethics of Embryonic Stem Cell Research

The Ethics of Embryonic Stem Cell Research
Author: Katrien Devolder
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 211
Release: 2015-01-22
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0191036234

Embryonic stem cell research holds unique promise for developing therapies for currently incurable diseases and conditions, and for important biomedical research. However, the process through which embryonic stem cells are obtained involves the destruction of early human embryos. Katrien Devolder focuses on the tension between the popular view that an embryo should never be deliberately harmed or destroyed, and the view that embryonic stem cell research, because of its enormous promise, must go forward. She provides an in-depth ethical analysis of the major philosophical and political attempts to resolve this tension. One such attempt involves the development of a middle ground position, which accepts only types or aspects of embryonic stem cell research deemed compatible with the view that the embryo has a significant moral status. An example is the position that it can be permissible to derive stem cells from embryos left over from in vitro fertilisation but not from embryos created for research. Others have advocated a technical solution. Several techniques have been proposed for deriving embryonic stem cells, or their functional equivalents, without harming embryos. An example is the induced pluripotent stem cell technique. Through highlighting inconsistencies in the arguments for these positions, Devolder argues that the central tension in the embryonic stem cell debate remains unresolved. This conclusion has important implications for the stem cell debate, as well as for policies inspired by this debate.

Heritable Human Genome Editing

Heritable Human Genome Editing
Author: The Royal Society
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 239
Release: 2021-01-16
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0309671132

Heritable human genome editing - making changes to the genetic material of eggs, sperm, or any cells that lead to their development, including the cells of early embryos, and establishing a pregnancy - raises not only scientific and medical considerations but also a host of ethical, moral, and societal issues. Human embryos whose genomes have been edited should not be used to create a pregnancy until it is established that precise genomic changes can be made reliably and without introducing undesired changes - criteria that have not yet been met, says Heritable Human Genome Editing. From an international commission of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine, U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and the U.K.'s Royal Society, the report considers potential benefits, harms, and uncertainties associated with genome editing technologies and defines a translational pathway from rigorous preclinical research to initial clinical uses, should a country decide to permit such uses. The report specifies stringent preclinical and clinical requirements for establishing safety and efficacy, and for undertaking long-term monitoring of outcomes. Extensive national and international dialogue is needed before any country decides whether to permit clinical use of this technology, according to the report, which identifies essential elements of national and international scientific governance and oversight.

Human Genome Editing

Human Genome Editing
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 329
Release: 2017-08-13
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0309452880

Genome editing is a powerful new tool for making precise alterations to an organism's genetic material. Recent scientific advances have made genome editing more efficient, precise, and flexible than ever before. These advances have spurred an explosion of interest from around the globe in the possible ways in which genome editing can improve human health. The speed at which these technologies are being developed and applied has led many policymakers and stakeholders to express concern about whether appropriate systems are in place to govern these technologies and how and when the public should be engaged in these decisions. Human Genome Editing considers important questions about the human application of genome editing including: balancing potential benefits with unintended risks, governing the use of genome editing, incorporating societal values into clinical applications and policy decisions, and respecting the inevitable differences across nations and cultures that will shape how and whether to use these new technologies. This report proposes criteria for heritable germline editing, provides conclusions on the crucial need for public education and engagement, and presents 7 general principles for the governance of human genome editing.