In a survey of more than 1,000 infertility patients
with frozen embryos, 60 percent of
patients report that they are likely to donate their
embryos to stem cell research, a level of
donation that could result in roughly 2,000 to 3,000 new
embryonic stem cell lines.
Researchers from the Johns Hopkins and Duke universities
report the startling findings in the
July 6 issue of Science.
In August 2001, less than two dozen embryonic stem
cell lines were made eligible for
federal research funding. Most scientists now agree that
the eligible lines have proven
inadequate in number and unsafe for translational
research.
Until recently, the best estimate of human embryos
currently in storage that might be
available for additional stem cell research was 3 percent;
the 2003 study showed that
donations would yield, at best, less than 300 new
lines.
"Until now, the debate about federal funding for
embryonic stem cell research has been
dominated by lawmakers and advocates. But what about the
preferences of infertility
patients, who are ethically responsible for, and have
legal authority over, these embryos?"
asked Ruth Faden, director of the Johns
Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics and one of
the study's two co-authors. "These patients face the often
morally difficult task of deciding
what to do with their remaining cryopreserved embryos. In
the end, it is these people who
determine whether embryos are available for adoption or
for medical research."
The 1,020 couples responding to the survey currently
control the disposition of between
3,900 and 5,900 embryos. Nearly half the respondents (49
percent) indicated they were
somewhat or very likely to donate their frozen embryos to
medical research. When asked
about stem cell research in particular, this percentage
increased to 60 percent.
"Our data suggest that the way many infertility
patients resolve the very personal moral
challenge of what to do with their embryos is consonant
with the conclusions of the majority
of Americans who support embryonic stem cell research,"
said Anne Lyerly, associate
professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Duke and
co-author of the study. "Many infertility
patients see donating their remaining embryos for medical
research as preferable to simply
discarding them or even to donating to another infertile
couple for adoption."
Infertility patients in the Lyerly and Faden study
said they were more likely to donate
their embryos to scientists for stem cell research (60
percent of respondents) than to other
couples for adoption (22 percent). Embryos are currently
frozen in fertility clinics because
more were created than could safely be returned to a
woman's uterus at the time of
fertilization, or in order to increase the chances of
pregnancy from a single cycle of in vitro
fertilization.
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