No Sex Please- We're British!

Researchers at Cambridge University have reprogrammed embryo stem cells (those unspecialised cells, with the potential to become different tissue types) into synthetic human embryos. These synthetic embryos include the cells that can go on to form the placenta, yolk sac and the embryo per se. As no eggs and sperm are involved, these model embryos lie outside most fertility legislation (https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/jun/14/synthetic-human-embryos-created-in-groundbreaking-advance). These synthetic human embryos should 'provide a window', into a currently blank stage of early embryological development. Legally, scientists can watch embryo development in vivo only up to the 14th day. Much later, they can rejoin the process, relying on womb scans. The synthetic human embryos will fill the missing gap, which might be crucial for understanding the genesis of some genetic disorders. It would not, of course, be currently legal to implant synthetic embryos into humans. They have neither mother nor father. Synthetic human embryos do, however, raise a number of ethical and legal issues.