Ten Years after the Warnock Report: Is the Human Neo-Conceptus a Person?
The 1984 Warnock Report, produced by the Committee of Inquiry into Human Fertilisation and Embryology, set up by the British Government, has been a trendsetter in the matter of legislation regulating embryo research. The 14-day limit on embryo research recommended by the Committee has been adopted not only in Great Britain but in a number of countries in Europe. Yet, the Committee openly declared that this time limit was an arbitrary compromise adopted "in order to allay public anxiety" (WR, 65) and allow scientists as much time for research on the human embryo as publicly acceptable. Admitting that embryonic life begins at fertilisation the Committee wrote: