Amid new embryo experiments, Vatican newspaper laments human guinea pigs

May 10, 2016

For the first time, researchers in the United Kingdom and the United States have grown human embryos in a laboratory until they were 13 days old-- leading some scientists to call for an end to the 14-day limit in effect in many countries.

In response to the development, L’Osservatore Romano published a front-page article in its May 10 edition by bioethicist Laura Palazzani, who lamented the use of human embryos as “guinea pigs of progress.”

Arguing that the 14-day limit is arbitrary, Palazzani said that some researchers could find pretexts for far later limits, whether prenatal or postnatal.

All human beings are in a state continuous development from the moment of fertilization, she continued, and embryos of whatever stage, without expressing consent, are being “destined to death” for the sake of scientific research.

 

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Further information:

• Non è scienza ma convenzione (L’Osservatore Romano)
• Researchers break record for keeping lab-grown human embryos alive (The Guardian)