Safeguarding ART

Abstract

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.