The barriers preventing fertility patients from donating embryos to research has been deeply concerning for PET for many years. PET is therefore very grateful to Hannah Devlin for highlighting this issue in an article in the Guardian.
Devlin has uncovered a 25-fold decrease in the number of donated embryos. Many patients have embryos left in storage after they have completed their fertility treatment and donating these embryos to research should be an option that is available to them.
In the article Professor Kathy Niakan, whose research involves the use of human embryos, described how she is contacted several times a year by patients desperate to donate embryos
PET Director Sarah Norcross was quoted in the article saying
'The sheer waste of human embryos that are being allowed to perish effectively by default, when researchers could learn so much from this precious resource, is a scandal.'
This issue was discussed in Professor Niakan's presentation at the PET Annual Conference.
Read more in BioNews.
