Embryo mimics: a scientific breakthrough that raises ethical issues

Named pseudo- or simili-embryos, they result not from fertilization between a spermatozoon and an ovum, but from stem cell manipulation. According to the French Biomedicine Agency (ABM), they would enable major scientific advances, in the study of congenital infertility problems or the causes that lead to miscarriage, for example. But, although promising, they also present risks of drift that require ethical regulation, warns the ABM.