Why the rules on embryo experiments should be loosened

When Louise BrownIVF, the first child created through in-vitro fertilisation, was born in 1978, the idea of creating an embryo in a dish was very controversial. More than 12m babies later, all bar some of the devoutly religious treat the technique as routine. Yet a rule invented in Britain in the 1980s still determines the sorts of research that can be done in the world’s embryology labs. The 14-day rule says that embryos must not be grown in a dish for longer than two weeks after fertilisation.First suggested in 1984, the rule tries to balance the benefits of research with the disquiet about experimenting on things that could potentially develop into human beings. It is law in several countries, including Britain and Canada, and followed voluntarily by researchers elsewhere. By reassuring doubters that scientists would not be allowed to act recklessly, the rule has made human-embryo research less controversial than it might otherwise have been.