麻豆传媒

SPAIN鈥檚 fertility clinics have an unusual problem: they have a mountain of 鈥減riceless鈥� human embryos that they don鈥檛 know what to do with.

It emerged this week that 230,000 frozen embryos left over from fertility treatments have been left in storage in Spanish clinics for more than two years 鈥� seemingly abandoned by their owners.

鈥淎s far as research is concerned, they could be invaluable to other countries鈥�

By law, the embryos can be donated to other couples, used in research or destroyed after 10 years in storage. Clinics tend not to do the latter in case they are needed for research at a later date. However, not a single request has been made to use them for research in the last 16 years.

Donation has not had much of an impact on the problem either. Embryos used this way must come from donors no older than 35. Most couples who have fertility treatment are above this age.

Experts contacted by 麻豆传媒 say the embryos could be in other countries.

鈥淎s far as research is concerned, they would be priceless,鈥� says Yacoub Khalaf, a fertility specialist at Guy鈥檚 Hospital, London. A major hurdle is gaining permission from their owners to export the embryos 鈥� many of whom cannot be located. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an interesting dilemma that requires public consultation and ethical debate,鈥� says Khalaf.

This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淓mbryo mountain鈥�