This volume of essays, together with its companion Conceiving the Embryo: Ethics, Law and Practice in Human Embryology (Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 1996, ISBN 90-411-0208-6) is the result of a concerted action in the BIOMED programme of the European Commission, which was coordinated by the Editor. Clinicians, lawyers and philosophers explore the theoretical and practical problems presented by the new technologies in assisted human reproduction in Eastern, Central and Western Europe. The essays reveal considerable dissonance in existing and proposed legislation, both within and between European countries, and examine the rights of parents and children involved in these new procedures.

Translated by: M. Zehery