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Ethical and Policy Developments 
ponents of using IVF spares argue that the present situation is 
best understood as a forced choice between two regrettable 
alternatives for the final disposition of stored embryos 
(whether donated for research or abandoned). One choice may 
then be justified as the lesser evil. Even if one deems the origi- 
nal decisions leading to the creation and storage of these em- 
bryos questionable, the embryos exist, and the earlier deci- 
sions cannot be undone. 
Some have also worried about the possibility of a "slippery 
slope," by which the uses of “spare” IVF embryos under this 
justification might open the door to their wider use in experi- 
ments in natural embryogenesis, toxicological studies or chi- 
merizations, or perhaps their development in an artificial (or 
natural) endometrium,^^® (though the reasonableness of "slip- 
pery slope" arguments is often disputed). Other critics point 
out that the "nothing is lost” principle is not permitted to gov- 
ern decisions regarding lethal experiments on the terminally 
ill, on death-row inmates, or even on fetuses slated for abor- 
tion.^^^ 
A further issue involves the question of whether accepting 
the “nothing is lost" principle for already existing embryos 
condones in principle the use of future excess embryos, or 
whether the principle actually requires efforts to prevent the 
creation or storage of "excess” embryos in the future. Fur- 
ther, this application of the principle relates only to embryos 
originally created for the purpose of reproduction but not 
transferred to initiate a pregnancy. Should their use in re- 
search be accepted, however, it is not clear that it would be 
possible to differentiate between embryos created originally 
for reproduction and extra embryos created with an eye to re- 
search uses, since the process of producing them would be 
identical (though consideration of the extra risks involved for 
the woman egg donor could act as a coimter against any large- 
scale embryo-creation-for-research).^^® 
Other observers, however, begin from the presence of cryo- 
genically preserved embryos but extend further the argument 
justifying their use in research. They argue that there is good 
reason to use embryos for research, not only because a situa- 
tion some judge tragic already exists but because donating 
embryos is an act of beneficence and using them is a social 
PRE -PUBLICATION VERSION 
