Why the rules on embryo experiments should be loosened

When Louise Brown, the first child created through in-vitro fertilisation, was born in 1978, the idea of creating an embryo in a dish was very controversial. More than 12m IVF babies later, all bar some of the devoutly religious treat the technique as routine. Yet a rule invented in Britain in the 1980s still determines the sorts of research that can be done in the world’s embryology labs. The 14-day rule says that embryos must not be grown in a dish for longer than two weeks after fertilisation.