Published November 2017 | Version public
Journal Article

Revisiting the Warnock rule

  • 1. ROR icon Arizona State University
  • 2. ROR icon Case Western Reserve University
  • 3. ROR icon Georgia Institute of Technology
  • 4. ROR icon The Francis Crick Institute
  • 5. ROR icon University Medical Center Groningen
  • 6. ROR icon Harvard University
  • 7. ROR icon Rice University
  • 8. ROR icon Nuffield Council on Bioethics
  • 9. ROR icon Centre for Life
  • 10. ROR icon Jackson Laboratory
  • 11. ROR icon Baylor College of Medicine
  • 12. ROR icon Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority
  • 13. ROR icon University of Oxford
  • 14. ROR icon University of Cambridge
  • 15. ROR icon Institute of Zoology
  • 16. ROR icon University of Chicago

Abstract

Is it time to reassess the 14-day rule for human embryo research? The seminal 1984 Warnock Report established that research on human embryos should be limited to the first 14 days of development (Box 1). Since that time, the rule has been broadly adopted and adhered to across the research community. With the introduction of new methodologies into human embryology, however, our ability to culture human embryos in vitro has progressed rapidly, to the point where we now are reaching the 14-day Rubicon. In August 2016, two groups in the UK and in the US reported experiments on human embryos that were sustained in culture for 12–13 days after fertilization. To comply with British law, the UK lab destroyed its embryo on the 13th day. In the following article, Nature Biotechnology brings together a group of experts to discuss whether, in the light of these advances, it is now time to reassess the 14-day rule.

Additional Information

© 2017 Nature Publishing Group. Corrected after print 10 November 2017.

Errata

Nat. Biotechnol. 35, 1029–1042 (2017); published online 9 November 2017; corrected after print 10 November 2017. In the version of this article initially published, J.E. Lunshof's affiliation was given as "Center for Bioethics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA"; the affiliation should have included her main affiliation at the University of Groningen and read, "Department of Genetics, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG), Groningen, The Netherlands, and Department of Genetics, Church laboratory, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA." In addition, "Divinity School, University of Chicago," should be "University of Chicago Divinity School." The errors have been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of the article.

Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
94574
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20190408-161923858

Related works

Describes
10.1038/nbt1217-1211d (DOI)

Dates

Created
2019-04-09
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2023-06-01
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