Public Policy and Legal Challenges Ahead

• Author: Maureen McTeer
• Pages: 163-174

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– chapter sixteen –

Public Policy and Legal

Challenges Ahead

INTRODUCTION

e current federal legislation that governs assisted human reproduction

(AHR) and many types of embryo research will inevitably become inad-

equate to handle the new and emerging technologies and reproductive

practices. e two areas covered in this book — namely, AHR and embryo

research — create intriguing challenges that need to be addressed in Par-

liament. In this chapter, some of the more pressing issues are discussed.

NEW FORMS OF HUMAN ORGANISMS

In March , peer-reviewed papers were published in the journal Nature

conrming that human blastocyst-like structures could assemble them-

selves unaided from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs). Referred to

as blastoids, they can also assemble themselves from induced pluripotent

stem cells (iPSCs) as well. A blastocyst is formed between the fth and

ninth days of early embryonic development in mammals and consists

of an inner cell mass that will become the embryo and an outer layer (a

trophoblast) that develops into the placenta.

In May , a team comprising members from the University of

Exeter and Cambridge University in the United Kingdom announced