Artificial Embryos Created In The Laboratory
Artificial Embryos Created In The Laboratory.
A University of Cambridge team headed by Professor Zenricka Goetz used stem cells from mice to create an artificial embryo. However, it is unlikely that this embryo will develop into a healthy foetus, as other stem cells needed for that development are not present. Research on human embryos in the United Kingdom are strictly licensed, and currently it is illegal to keep them alive in laboratories for more than two weeks after fertilisation. However, experts have been renewing calls to allow experiments on embryos beyond the 14 days of development, in order to encourage further research towards medical breakthroughs. The Warnock Report of the Committee of Inquiry into Human Fertilisation and Embryology in 1984 settled on 14 days, when the embryo is a distinct individual and can no longer form a twin. This had never been challenged before until recently, as science had not found a way to physically support life in the lab beyond a week. But with recent research progress, where a way had been found to allow an early stage embryo to continue to develop for longer than13 days after fertilisation, and potentially longer, the quest for the relaxation of the 14-days rule had increased.
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