Assisted reproductive technologies (ART) are exceptional among clinical therapies, as unlike most medical procedures, ART have generational consequences. Further, human embryo research in the US has been sponsored solely by the private sector and, until recent biotechnology forays into human embryonic stem cell (hESC) and cloning research, exclusively by infertility clinics. Additionally, the relatively brief clinical history of ART has made it difficult for practitioners and researchers to agree on criteria for its safety and success. Against this backdrop, market pressure on biotechnology companies to create hESC lines and on clinical practices to occupy the innovative forefront has resulted in arguably risky experiments with human embryo cloning, as well as in unintentional germ-line genetic modifications during ART and perhaps during gene therapy. Reproduction, once governed largely by passions and instinct, now seems to need further governance. Some argue that it could now be time for the biomedical community, especially in the US, to take further steps to safeguard ART.
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Acknowledgements
I am grateful to the Pittsburgh Development Center, the Magee-Womens Research Institute faculty and the University of Pittsburgh faculty and staff who have contributed to this article. I apologize to the many investigators whose important contributions are not referenced here due to unavoidable space restrictions. Sponsorship from the National Institutes of Health (National Institute for Child Health and Development MERIT award, Specialized Cooperative Centers Program in Reproduction Research; National Center for Research Resources; National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences/Office for Research on Women's Health Specialized Center of Research in Sex and Gender Factors Affecting Women's Health) is acknowledged with gratitude.
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Schatten, G. Safeguarding ART. Nat Med 8 (Suppl 10), S19–S22 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm-fertilityS19
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nm-fertilityS19
