https://doi.org/10.4081/mem.2002.712
The human embryo: a disposable "mass of cells" or a "human being"?
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Autori
On 1986, due to the deceptive introduction of the "pre-embryo" stage in the human development, the "new human conceptus" was deprived of the dignity of a "human being", and degraded to a "mass of cells" until the 15th day after fertilization. The law itself, under the pressure of a value-free science and a predominant technology, in many Nations resigned. Thus, the early human embryo, on the basis of its minor value in respect to hopefully great therapeutic successes, became a "disposable object" - up to its destruction - in view of the opening of new fields of research. However, a rigorous analysis of the many steps of the human developmental process during the first two weeks after fertilization, accompanied by a logical induction from the data afforded by the experimental sciences, lead to the sole possible statement that, at the fusion of the two gametes, a new real human individual initiates its own existence or life cycle, during which - given all the necessary and sufficient conditions - it will autonomously realize all the capabilities with which it is intrinsically endowed. Indeed, on the basis of both good science and correct inductive logic, the living human embryo during the first 14 days from conception is not a mere "collection of a few cells", but a real "human individual", and of the human individual has, consequently, the same dignity and rights.
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