The Know Daily - Wednesday 25 October

_{Read in 5m 24s ∙ Listening to Blur}

Residents and community organisations in Hull will soon be allowed to use neglected council-owned land to grow food, after the city council voted in favour of a first-of-its-kind “right to grow” initiative. Inner-city parks and grass verges could be used to grow fruit and veg, as the project looks to boost wellbeing and tackle the cost-of-living crisis.

🔬 Embryo research debate

Some UK scientists have called for the current 14-day limit on embryo research to be extended, as newly-published fieldwork indicates that there could be public support for the move.

What’s the story?
The 14-day rule, introduced in 1990, prohibits scientific research involving human embryos beyond 14 days of development. The limit applies to early human embryos which are donated for research purposes because they are no longer needed or are unsuitable for fertility treatment, as well as embryos created specifically for research from donated sperm and eggs.

Precisely what happens to human embryos beyond the 14-day limit is poorly understood - which is why some leading scientists are calling for two-week period to be doubled to 28 days. “Lifting the ban could yield major scientific breakthroughs for infertility, miscarriage and birth defects,” said the BBC.

Tell me about this new fieldwork.
Seventy members of the public took part in a public dialogue, which was designed to hear diverse views on the highly controversial topic. They were asked “probing and ethical questions” about the idea of extending the current limit, and the outcome “suggests the mood is favourable”, said the BBC.

How has the work been received?
A spokesperson from the organisation Right To Life UK accused the project of being a thinly veiled attempt to lobby for the removal of the 14-day limit. "Human embryos should never be experimented on,” they said.

The Human Development Biology Initiative, which conducted the work, denies the accusation. It says its aim was to better understand public hopes and concerns around embryo research.

Is the law likely to change?
"The government will not do anything without public support... and this exercise suggests there might be [support],” said Prof Robin Lovell-Badge from the Francis Crick Institute.

Separately, legal and ethical experts are currently drawing up voluntary guidelines to govern work on synthetic embryos - ones created from stem cells, not egg and sperm. Reporting on the creation of synthetic human embryos back in June, The Guardian said the development highlighted “how rapidly the science in this field has outpaced the law”.