December 2008. Nearly 500,000 human embryos are currently stored
in liquid nitrogen tanks in fertility clinics in the United
States, a number comparable to the population of a mid-sized
city like Cleveland or Tucson. By contrast, only a handful of
human embryos have been frozen and held in storage tanks in the
entire country of Germany. The reason for this striking
difference lies in the fact that Germany enacted an Embryo
Protection Law during the 1990’s which included provisions
outlawing the freezing of human embryos. Italy has similar
legislation in force. Both countries closely regulate in vitro
fertilization treatments, and allow the production of no more
than 3 embryos at a time, all of which must be implanted into
their mother. Both countries forbid the production of extra
embryos, experimentation on embryos, embryo cloning, and genetic
testing of embryos. The United States has largely failed to
establish any reasonable legal or ethical framework to regulate
its own multi-billion dollar infertility in