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Published online 27 August 2004 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news040823-17

Column

A moral minefield

Couples going through IVF should be allowed to choose what happens to their unwanted embryos, says Helen Pilcher.

Who should decide what happens when an embryo created in a fertility clinic goes unused? You might hope, as the potential parent, that the decision would be yours. But you could be disappointed, and so could the researchers who hope to benefit from material that would otherwise go to waste.

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