Lomax and Trounson reply:
Our 2013 Correspondence1 focuses on the “imbalance between the potential supply of embryos and the ability to use them in research.” It is motivated by our frequent interaction with prospective embryo donors who aspire to contribute to stem cell research. We emphasize specific remedies to enhance the efficacy of the informed consent process.
We illustrate the imbalance with an updated estimate of the number of embryos stored in the United States. Both we and Snow, Cattapan and Baylis2 acknowledge that assumptions underpinning our method are inherently conservative, such that our estimate of “more than 1 million” is likely low. By way of comparison, at the end of 2011, 839,325 embryos were in storage in the UK3, where the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority collects data on human embryos.
Snow, Cattapan and Baylis provide cogent corrections and methodological insights to improve data consistency. However, precisely quantifying the number of stored embryos is secondary to our main argument concerning the ethics and policy imperative—that we must explicitly inform donors about the limited ability to use surplus embryos in stem cell research.
References
Lomax, G.P. & Trounson, A.O. Nat. Biotechnol. 31, 288–290 (2013).
Snow, D., Cattapan, A. & Baylis, F. Nat. Biotechnol. 33, 909 (2015).
UK Parliament Daily Hansard. Embryology, column WA26. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201213/ldhansrd/text/130108w0001.htm (8 Jan 2013; accessed 7 July 2015).
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Reply to Contesting estimates of cryopreserved embryos in the United States. Nat Biotechnol 33, 909 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.3348
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.3348
