https://doi.org/10.4081/mem.2004.652
Biological nature of human embryo.
The current debate on in vitro fertilization, the existence of an undetermined number of frozen human embryos and the possibility to clone living beings, including higher primates and humans, has raised a plethora of issues of both biological, ethical and, last but not least, legal nature.
The debate has now heated around these issues and often results in utmost fierce confrontations, which are not solely confined to the stage provided by newspapers and television, but also involves institutional organs as well as the academic community. A common element in all of these discussions is the frequent lack of logical or scientific arguments to back up the contention(s) of some of the discussants. The debate then unfolds, based upon preconceived positions, the latter becoming ever more rigid, until the situation reaches a stalemate, strictly based on dogmatic, ideological or political views.
This concise manuscript is meant to provide an objective, scientific review on the nature, identity and physiology of the most essential element around which all of these discussions revolve: the human embryo. This review aims at illustrating the various, progressive phases, through which human life develops, starting from the very initial stage - the fusion of the gametes (fertilization) - throughout the embryonic growth, until a mature human being is born.
We hope that this document will provide matter for evaluation and study by those whom, for sake of knowledge and culture, or for their personal inner growth, devote themselves to the study of this topic of vital importance for mankind as a whole.
Downloads
Citations
0
How to Cite
PAGEPress has chosen to apply the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) to all manuscripts to be published.
An Open Access Publication is one that meets the following two conditions:
- the author(s) and copyright holder(s) grant(s) to all users a free, irrevocable, worldwide, perpetual right of access to, and a license to copy, use, distribute, transmit and display the work publicly and to make and distribute derivative works, in any digital medium for any responsible purpose, subject to proper attribution of authorship, as well as the right to make small numbers of printed copies for their personal use.
- a complete version of the work and all supplemental materials, including a copy of the permission as stated above, in a suitable standard electronic format is deposited immediately upon initial publication in at least one online repository that is supported by an academic institution, scholarly society, government agency, or other well-established organization that seeks to enable open access, unrestricted distribution, interoperability, and long-term archiving.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.