'New embryos' - new challenges for the ethics of stem cell research

Among the many ethical issues raised by human embryonic stem cell research (in the following all references to 'stem cells' should be read as references to human embryonic stem cells), two have gained specific prominence: (1) whether stem cell research is ethically problematic because it entails the destruction of human embryos and (2) what kind of control embryo donors should have over the stem cell lines derived from their embryos. In the present paper, I will analyse how these two issues are engaged by various attempts to derive stem cells from anomalous embryos (e.g. embryos in cleavage arrest, embryos not implanted following pre-implantation genetic diagnosis or embryos created by altered nuclear transfer) or in ways that are claimed to be non-destructive for the embryo (e.g. blastocyst or blastomere biopsy).