Test-tube babies
The moral questions scientists cannot duck
A growing number of babies will begin life in a test tube. They will owe their existence to a British medical team, Dr Robert Edwards and Mr Patrick Steptoe, who have made child-bearing possible for women with damaged fallopian tubes. The team has established some 40 pregnancies so far this year and, if all goes well, 15-20 test-tube babies will be born before 1981 is out. While thanks, and applause, are due, this is also a reminder that research into human embryos and genes is moving fast and that it raises the most fundamental ethical questions.
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