Researchers ponder best use of 400,000 stored embryos

"Adoption" is offered as an option for reducing frozen human embryo inventory, but some find the term troublesome.

By Andis Robeznieks, AMNews staff. June 16, 2003.

For the first time, it's now known how many frozen human embryos created for infertility treatments are being stored in the United States -- 400,000, twice as high as previous estimates.

Researchers with the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology found that most are designated for further fertility treatments, though it's doubtful that all 349,830 embryos with this designation will be used for that purpose.

Many of the embryos will not survive the thawing process but, as the number of "leftovers" left in freezers continues to rise, there are calls to minimize embryo production, put limits on storage time, and to have couples donate the embryos for use in research or for the infertility treatment of other couples.

The last choice has been embraced by the federal government, which is spending $1 million to foster public awareness of the "embryo-adoption" option for infertile couples.

"This issue has been around since in vitro fertilization was new," said Timothy Murphy, PhD, professor of philosophy in the biomedical sciences at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago and a visiting scholar at the AMA Institute for Ethics. "But folks are paying more attention to it now in political ways rather than medical."

Lori A. Marshall, MD, head of reproductive endocrinology at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, said one point lost in the debate is how many of the embryos actually have the potential to develop into a child.

"I think that's a misperception: that 400,000 embryos means there could be 400,000 people out there," she said. "About 35% don't survive the thawing process."