Call to Remove Dickey-Wicker Amendment Rider Prohibiting Use of Parthenotes in Research

There’s an obscure rider obstructing science when it comes to parthenotes. Lisa Campo Englestein, Onco-Fertility Consortium, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, discusses an article she co-authored in the March 2011 issue of the American Journal of Bioethics, “An Obscure Rider Obstructing Science: The Conflation of Parthenotes with Embryos in the Dickey-Wicker Amendment.” Parthenotes, common among certain species, are the result of non-sexual reproduction (i.e., no fertilization has taken place). Research involving parthenotes has many potential benefits (e.g., infertility, miscarriage, cancer research), but ethical concerns exist as to the status of parthenotes. The rider in the amendment prohibits the use of parthenotes. (March 8, 2011)