Scientists in the UK are urging authorities to extend the cap on embryo research from 14 to 28 days. A group of experts in the field has stated that the move could result in major advancements in understanding around infertility, birth defects, and miscarriages. It is thought that public support is increasing in favor of lifting the current limit, and newly published fieldwork from the Human Developmental Biology Initiative (HDBI) suggests a mood that could help bolster support for the cause. The HDBI study sought out public views around the subject and the ethics and philosophy behind extending the limit.
The HDBI says the campaign to extend the limit on embryo research is an essential step in bringing about a change in the regulation of experiments being carried out on human embryos. However, bodies such as Right To Life UK strongly oppose efforts to conduct medical experiments on human embryos and have accused the endeavor of being a lobbying campaign aimed to remove the 14-day limit entirely.
According to Dr. Peter Rudd Gunn, Scientific Lead for the HDBI, observing the gastrulation stage after two weeks could lead to a vast improvement in in-vitro fertilization (IVF) success rates. He added that the success rate of IVF treatment is currently only one in four, and much is unknown as to what contributes to the failure of the treatment after week two of embryo development.
Many experts acknowledge that the 14-day limit is an arbitrary timeframe rather than a valuable moral boundary for testing. Upgrading the limit would result in scientists being able to study developmental processes that occur during gastrulation and establish fundamental tissue building blocks. This could expand the understanding of human development overall and possibly lead to improvements in several medical areas. Ethical and legal experts in the UK are currently working on a set of guidelines to regulate synthetic embryo production, which is set to be released later this year
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