Statement of Dr. Maureen L. Condic, Ph.D.
1. I am Associate Professor of Neurobiology and Anatomy at the University of Utah School of
Medicine, with an adjunct appointment in the Department of Pediatrics. I received my
undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago, and my doctorate from the University
of California at Berkeley. Since my appointment at the University of Utah in 1997, my
primary research focus has been the development and regeneration of the nervous system. In
1999, I was awarded the Basil O’Connor Young Investigator Award for my studies of
peripheral nervous system development. In 2002, I was named a McKnight Neuroscience of
Brain Disorders Investigator in recognition of my research in the field of adult spinal cord
regeneration. My current research involves human stem cells as a treatment for congenital
heart disease in infants and other medical conditions. In addition to my scientific research, I
participate in both graduate and medical teaching. I am director of the University of Utah
School of Medicine curriculum in Human Embryology, and have taught human embryology
to the medical students since 1999. I have published and presented seminars nationally on
issues concerning science policy and the ethics of biological research. My current C.V. is
attached.
2. When in the course of prenatal development a new human being comes into existence is a
question that has been answered in many ways throughout history, based on the
understanding of human development available at any given time. Yet the question of
precisely when a new human organism comes into existence wasn’t a matter of practical
importance until the advent of in vitro fertilization (IVF) and human embryo research.
Consequently, scientists, physicians, philosophers, and bioethicists have not considered this
question in great detail until recently, and appealing to experts yields a plethora of opinions,
often with very little factual evidence to support them. Yet the question of when life begins
is primarily a matter of science, and personal opinions are irrelevant to the scientific facts.
3. The scientific community has a clear set of criteria for distinguishing one cell type from
another and for distinguishing human cells from human organisms. By these criteria, it is a
matter of objective, scientific fact that a full and complete human organism comes into
existence at the fusion of sperm and egg.
4. How does science determine when human life begins? In considering this question, we must
first address the more fundamental question of when a new cell, distinct from sperm and egg,
comes into existence. Different types of human cells can be distinguished from each other by
scientific criteria. Indeed, the entire scientific field of biology is based on the ability of
scientists to distinguish one cell type from another. For example, when skin cells are
converted into stem cells by manipulation of specific genes, scientists must have a way of
evaluating whether this conversion has actually occurred, and this evaluation must be based
on fact, not on mere opinion.
5. How do scientists determine when a new cell type has been produced, either in the laboratory
or as a consequence of a natural biologic process? The scientific basis for distinguishing one
cell type from another rests on two criteria: differences in molecular composition and
differences in behavior. Differences in molecular composition can arise due to an alteration
in gene expression, or a change in the subcellular localization of existing molecules, or a
chemical modification of existing molecules. Alternatively, when cells exhibit new behavior,
for example, going from a quiescent to an actively dividing state, they can be identified as
distinct cell types. When a cell exhibits either a change in molecular composition or a
change in behavior, it is considered a new cell type. These two criteria are not “religious,”
they are objective, verifiable scientific criteria that distinguish one cell type from another.
6. Based on these criteria, the fusion of a human sperm and a human egg at fertilization clearly
produces a new human cell type. The basic events of early development are both reasonably
well characterized and entirely uncontested. Following the binding of sperm and egg to each
other, the membranes of these two cells fuse, creating in this instant a single hybrid cell: the
zygote or one-cell embryo.
7. Cell fusion is a well-studied and very rapid event, occurring in less than a second. Because
the zygote arises from the fusion of two different cells, it contains all the components of both
sperm and egg, and therefore the zygote has a unique molecular composition that is distinct
from either gamete. It has a unique genetic code that is different from both parents.
Subsequent to sperm-egg fusion, events rapidly occur in the zygote that do not normally
occur in either sperm or egg. Within minutes of membrane fusion, the zygote initiates
changes in its ionic composition that will, over the next 30 minutes, result in chemical
modifications that block sperm binding to the cell surface and prevent further intrusion of
additional sperm on the unfolding process of development. Thus, the zygote acts
immediately and specifically to antagonize the function of the gametes from which it is
derived; while the “goal” of both sperm and egg is to find each other and to fuse, the first act
of the zygote is immediately to prevent any further binding of sperm to the cell surface.
Clearly, the prior trajectories of sperm and egg have been abandoned, and a new
developmental trajectory—that of the zygote—has taken their place.
8. Based on this factual description of the events following sperm-egg binding, we can
confidently conclude that a new cell, the zygote, comes into existence at the “moment” of
sperm-egg fusion, an event that occurs in less than a second. At the point of fusion, sperm
and egg are physically united—i.e., they cease to exist as separate gametes and they form a
new entity that is materially distinct from either sperm or egg. The behavior of this new cell
also differs radically from that of either sperm or egg: the developmental pathway entered
into by the zygote is distinct from both gametes. Thus, sperm-egg fusion is indeed a
scientifically well defined “instant” in which the zygote (a new cell with unique human
genetic composition, molecular composition and behavior) is formed.
9. It is scientifically inaccurate to call the cell produced by sperm-egg fusion a "fertilized egg".
Once fertilization has occurred, the egg ceases to exist and a new cell is produced that is
distinct from an egg, both in terms of its behavior and its molecular composition. This cell is
correctly called a zygote.
10. What is the nature of this new cell, the zygote, that comes into existence at sperm-egg
fusion? Most importantly, is the zygote merely another human cell (like a liver cell or a skin
cell or an egg cell) or is it a human being? Clearly, no one objects to creating or destroying
human cells for treatment of infertility. However, destroying human beings for any medical
purposes, no matter how noble, is universally condemned. Therefore, it is critical to
determine whether the new cell created by sperm-egg fusion is merely a human cell or a
human being.
11. Just as science distinguishes between different types of cells, it also makes clear distinctions
between cellular life and organisms. Both human cells and human organisms are alive (i.e.
they carry out complex metabolic processes to utilize energy and remove wastes), yet
organisms exhibit unique behavior and molecular composition that can reliably distinguish
them from mere cells.
12. An organism is defined by Merriam Webster as “(1) a complex structure of interdependent
and subordinate elements whose relations and properties are largely determined by their
function in the whole and (2) an individual constituted to carry on the activities of life by
means of organs separate in function but mutually dependent: a living being.” This
definition stresses the interaction of parts in the context of a coordinated whole as the
distinguishing feature of an organism. Again, this is not a religious definition; it is a
scientific definition based on objective criteria that can be reliably observed.
13. Organisms are “living beings.” Therefore, another name for a human organism is a “human
being”; an entity that is a complete human, rather than a part of a human.
14. Unlike human cells, a human organism acts in an interdependent and coordinated manner to
“carry on the activities of life.” These activities include growth towards a mature human
form, repair of injury, adaptation to novel environments and coordinated function of all parts
such that the life, health and development of the organism as a whole are preserved. In
contrast, human cells typically only divide to produce more copies of themselves. Some
types of human cells, for example stem cells, can generate more mature cell types in a
random jumble to produce a tumor, but such tumors never exhibit the coordinated properties
of organisms listed above.
15. Are human zygotes human beings (i.e. human organisms)? Human embryos from the onecell stage forward clearly have a molecular composition that is distinct from other human
cells, and more importantly, they show uniquely integrated, organismal behavior that
constitutes the scientific definition of a whole human being.1 The zygote immediately and
decisively enters into a complex pattern of development that is distinct from the behavior of
sperm and egg and that sequentially produces all of the molecular interactions, cell types,
tissues, structures and organs required for the organism as a whole to live and mature as a
unique individual. In this process, it meets all of the criteria for a living human being listed
above. The embryo develops continuously towards a characteristic mature human form. It
repairs injuries. For example, if one cell is removed from an embryo at the 8-cell stage for
prenatal genetic diagnosis, the embryo is able to repair this catastrophic injury, and continue
to develop normally. Embryos are also able preserve normal development in a surprising
range of artificial environments, including the laboratory dish in which "in vitro" embryos
are created. Finally, even at the one-cell stage, embryos exhibit a wide range of complex
molecular interactions that anticipate future requirements of the embryo as a whole. These
1
For a detailed discussion of the organismal events occurring after sperm-egg fusion, see: Condic, M.L. (2008).
When does human life begin? A scientific perspective. Natl Cathol Bioeth Quart. 9(1):127-208.
integrated activities of the zygote can only be interpreted as components of an ongoing,
organismal pattern of development that is clearly different from the behavior shown by mere
human cells.
16. The ability to generate all of the cells of the human body in a correctly organized spatial and
temporal sequence is referred to as "totipotency." This behavior is entirely unlike the
behavior of all human cells (including human stem cells) and is the defining characteristic of
a human organism.
17. Under some circumstances, stem cells can assemble into primitive tissues and structures
based on local, cell-cell interactions and short-range molecular signaling. Yet under no
circumstances do mere human cells exhibit coordinated interactions directed towards the
production of a fully integrated human body. They do not produce tissues in a coherent
manner and do not organize them so as to sustain the life of the entity as a whole. They
produce parts of the human body in a chaotic, disorganized manner. They behave like cells,
not like organisms.
18. Based on a scientific description of early human development, fusion of sperm and egg
generates a new human cell, the zygote, with composition and behavior distinct from that of
either gamete. Moreover, this cell has all the properties of a fully complete (albeit immature)
human organism; it is “an individual constituted to carry on the activities of life by means of
organs separate in function but mutually dependent: a living being.”
19. Importantly, a one-cell human zygote is a complete organism in the same way a mature adult
is a complete human organism. Scientifically, a human zygote and a human adult are
equivalent; they are both complete human organisms at different stages of the normal human
life cycle. The fact that a zygote doesn't "look" like a mature human is not a scientifically
valid reason to conclude it is not a human being. Babies do not look like young adults and
young adults do not look like ninety-year old adults, but they are all clearly human
organisms. A zygote seems unfamiliar to most people, but it is exactly what a human being
looks like in the first day of life. While zygotes have not yet formed familiar human
structures (e.g. arms, eyes, legs), the absence of these structures is entirely natural at this
stage, just as absence of teeth is natural for a newborn baby. Moreover, familiar human
structures are not a scientific definition of a human being, because they do not distinguish
human beings from human tumors that sometimes contain familiar structures like eyes or
teeth. Functioning like an organism is the only scientific criteria that distinguishes human
beings from human cells, and a human zygote meets this criterion in the same manner as a
human adult. Therefore, a human zygote is a whole, living member of the species Homo
sapiens at the earliest stage of natural development.
20. Formation of a human being (i.e. human organism) can occur during natural fertilization in
the body of a woman or in the laboratory during IVF or by other technical means, including
intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) or cloning (the fusion of a human body cell with an
egg cell that has had its own genetic material removed). In all cases, the beginning of human
life occurs immediately, as soon as a new cell with unique molecular composition and with
the behavior of an organism is generated.
21. However, the human being that is produced by different methods will not be equally healthy
in all cases. For example, clear scientific evidence from cloning of animals indicates that
cloning is only rarely successful, due to difficulties in genetic reprogramming that are
inherent to the procedure of cloning. Typically, only 0.1-1% (one out of one thousand to one
out of one hundred) cloned embryos are sufficiently healthy to survive to live birth.
Moreover, a large body of data indicates that even the few cloned organisms that survive to
birth have serious medical problems. Therefore while cloning can produce an organism,
these individuals are universally defective.
22. Similarly, babies produced by IVF have serious health problems that are directly due to the
technical procedure that produced them. The overall 'success' of IVF to produce live babies
is typically only 25%2, indicating that 75% of the entities produced by this procedure are
either non-embryos or severely damaged embryos. Children produced by IVF are at greater
risk for preterm delivery and stillbirth.3 They are also more likely to have birth defects and
other medical problems immediately after birth, compared to babies conceived naturally.4
Finally, children produced by IVF are more likely to have serious medical problems later in
life than children conceived naturally.5 Thus, IVF, like cloning, involves significant medical
risk to the individuals produced by this technique.
23. IVF also entails risk to the mother. Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS), a condition
that can result in sterility or death, affects between 2% to 10% of all women undergoing
IVF.6 Women who become pregnant by IVF techniques also suffer higher risk for serious
health complications in pregnancy compared to women conceiving naturally. 7
24. A number of alternative definitions of when human life begins have been offered, including
syngamy (approximately 24 hours after sperm-egg fusion), implantation (approximately 5
days after sperm-egg fusion), primitive streak formation (approximately 14 days after spermegg fusion) and onset of brain function (a poorly defined point). Yet all of these definitions
suffer from the same problem: they are arbitrary and not based on any observable change in
the nature of the embryo.
2
In the United States, the most recent data (2010) showed an overall IVF success rate for "fresh" oocytes of 24.6%,
based on 146,693 cycles Data available at:
https://www.sartcorsonline.com/rptCSR_PublicMultYear.aspx?ClinicPKID=0.
3
Wisborg K, Ingerslev HJ, Henriksen TB. IVF and stillbirth: a prospective follow-up study. Hum Reprod. 2010
May;25(5):1312-6.
4 Hum Reprod. 2009 Feb;24(2):360-6. Epub 2008 Nov 14. Assisted reproductive technology and major structural
birth defects in the United States. Reefhuis J, Honein MA, Schieve LA, Correa A, Hobbs CA, Rasmussen SA;
National Birth Defects Prevention Study.
5
Hum Reprod. 2011 Sep;26(9):2392-400. Epub 2011 Jun 30. Childhood outcomes of assisted reproductive
technology. Savage T, Peek J, Hofman PL, Cutfield WS.
6 Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome and complications of ART. Vloeberghs V, Peeraer K, Pexsters A, D'Hooghe
T. Best Pract Res Clin Obstet Gynaecol. 2009 Oct;23(5):691-709.
7 Assisted reproductive technology and pregnancy outcome. Shevell T, Malone FD, Vidaver J, Porter TF, Luthy
DA, Comstock CH, Hankins GD, Eddleman K, Dolan S, Dugoff L, Craigo S, Timor IE, Carr SR, Wolfe HM,
Bianchi DW, D'Alton ME. Obstet Gynecol. 2005 Nov;106(5 Pt 1):1039-45; Increased risk of placenta previa in
pregnancies following IVF/ICSI; a comparison of ART and non-ART pregnancies in the same mother. Romundstad
LB, Romundstad PR, Sunde A, von Düring V, Skjaerven R, Vatten LJ. Hum Reprod. 2006 Sep;21(9):2353-8.
25. Syngamy is often claimed to be the end of fertilization and the beginning of embryonic life,
but this definition is arbitrary and does not meet the scientific criteria for either formation of
a new cell type or a new organism. Moreover, this definition ignores the clear scientific
evidence that the zygote enters into an organismal pattern of behavior immediately after it is
formed at sperm-egg fusion, well before syngamy occurs.
26. What is syngamy, and why is it inadequate to define the beginning of human life? After
sperm-egg fusion, the genetic information contributed by the sperm and the egg exists in two
separate, membrane bound compartments known as "pronuclei." Over the next 20-25 hours,
the pronuclei move to the center of the cell and syngamy occurs when the membranes
separating the two pronuclei break down immediately prior to the first cell division. Nuclear
membrane break down is not a unique, "embryo-forming" event. It occurs during every cell
division in the body and is required to ensure that the genetic information is distributed
equally to the two cells that are produced. Importantly, there is no change in the molecular
composition of the zygote before and after syngamy, so no new cell type is produced by this
event. Moreover, there is no change in the behavior of the zygote at this point. The zygote
began preparing for cell division by replicating its DNA approximately 8-10 hours post
sperm-egg fusion (approximately15 hours before syngamy). Syngamy is merely the last step
in a developmental process that was initiated by the zygote many hours earlier.
27. Some have attempted to refer to an embryo prior to syngamy (or prior to implantation or
primitive streak formation, see below) as a "preembryo", but this is not a legitimate scientific
term.8 A human being forms at sperm-egg fusion, and therefore a human embryo exists
from this instant forward.
28. Implantation is also commonly offered as the point at which life begins, but this definition
also fails to meet the scientific criteria for formation of a new cell type or a new organism.
Implantation is primarily a change in the location of the embryo. While there are alterations
in molecular composition and cell behavior associated with implantation, these changes are
similar to the kind of changes that take place throughout embryonic and postnatal
development: i.e. they are part of an ongoing process that began much earlier and continues
well after implantation has been completed. The changes associated with implantation do not
convert a group of human cells into an organism. Rather, they are part of a globally
coordinated pattern of events that was initiated much earlier. For example, as early as 10
hours following sperm-egg fusion, the embryo initiates a pattern of gene activation that is
required for normal implantation to occur more than four days later.
By the time
implantation occurs, the embryo has undergone a complex sequence of steps required to
produce a specialized cell population in a specific location that is uniquely capable of
interacting with the lining of the uterus to accomplish this critical developmental task.
Clearly, implantation is not a "game-changing" event like sperm-egg fusion that converts
8
A recent study indicates that between 1986 and 2005, the term "embryo" was used 90,888 times in the scientific
literature, while "preembryo" was used only 172 times, with the authors concluding, "We suggest avoiding use of
the term preembyo in scientific publications since it is an error to pretend to redefine a biological fact—well
described by other terms—with a clearly more confusing and hardly ever used concept in the field." See: Vivanco,
L., Bartolomé, B., Martín, M. S. and Martínez, A. (2011), Bibliometric analysis of the use of the term preembryo in
scientific literature. J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci., 62: 987–991.
human cells into a human organism. It is merely a step in an ongoing developmental
sequence that began at formation of the zygote.
29. Although successful implantation is required for development to proceed, a large number of
events at every stage of life—including postnatal stages—are required for development to
proceed normally. Focusing on this specific event as one that somehow produces a new
human being is arbitrary and inconsistent with the scientific evidence that clearly indicates a
human organism exists from sperm-egg fusion onward.
30. Similarly, formation of the primitive streak does not meet the scientific criteria for formation
of a new cell type or a new organism. The primitive streak is an early embryonic structure
that gives rise to all the basic cell types of the early body, including the nervous system.
Changes in gene expression and cell behavior occur in some cells of the embryo at this time.
However, like implantation, primitive streak formation is merely another step in an ongoing
developmental process that depends upon numerous coordinated events at much earlier
stages. For example, interactions between two primitive cell layers formed at approximately
six days after sperm-egg fusion (the epiblast and the hypoblast) are required to produce a
specialized structure (the 'organizer') that initiates the cell movements and changes in gene
expression that occur at this time. Primitive streak formation does not create an embryo out
of an uncoordinated group of human cells (i.e. a tumor). It is an event produced in an
organized manner by the embryo to promote its further health, survival and maturation.
31. Primitive streak formation is also suggested as the beginning of human life because this is the
latest time at which twinning can occur, and therefore (it is argued) the embryo is not an
"individual" until twinning is no longer possible.
32. Twinning involves the splitting of a single human being into two human beings. This is a
form of asexual reproduction that is common in the animal kingdom. For example, some
species of worms routinely reproduce by splitting their bodies in two, with each half
regenerating an entire worm. While it is unfamiliar to think of humans reproducing in this
way, it is simply a scientific fact that a single human individual is capable of splitting into
two individuals during the first fourteen days of life. In the case of a worm, no one would
argue that there were two worms present inside the single worm before splitting or that there
was not an individual, living worm before splitting, but only a collection of cells that
somehow became two worms after splitting. Clearly, a single, living worm was present at
the beginning, and after splitting, each half continued as a new individual that actively
repaired the damage caused by splitting to regenerate the missing parts required for the
continued health and survival of a whole worm. In the same way, when human twinning
occurs, a single human embryo splits to form two embryos, with each half regenerating the
missing parts that are required for the growth and health of a whole human being. In this rare
case (identical twins are approximately 0.3% of all births), the original embryo is formed at
sperm-egg fusion, and at splitting, two embryos are produced from this single individual.
Whether the original embryo persists as one of the twins or whether two new individuals are
produced at this point is not clear. But the fact that a single individual human being existed
prior to splitting is entirely clear, based on the organismal behavior of embryos from spermegg fusion onward.
33. Finally, formation of a functional nervous system is commonly identified as the beginning of
human life. Brain functions such as consciousness, memory, language and emotion are some
of our most important and most personal human experiences. Therefore, many people point
to the maturation of a brain capable of these "higher" functions as a definition of when
human life begins. However, similar to syngamy, implantation and primitive streak
formation, brain formation does not reflect any objective change in the nature of the embryo.
Many earlier events must occur for a functional nervous system to form, and therefore, brain
formation is merely another step in the ongoing development of an existing human being.
Although new cells are produced during brain development, these cells are produced in a
coordinated temporal and spatial pattern. And generating such an organized pattern is the
defining characteristic of an organism. Therefore the brain is produced by a developing
human being, it does not cause a human being to come into existence.
34. At postnatal stages of life, nervous system function is required to maintain the integrated
function of the body as a whole. Thus, if the brain completely and irreversibly ceases to
function at any time after birth, a human being is unable to maintain integrated, organismal
function, and death occurs. However, during early embryonic and fetal stages, human beings
are able to maintain organismal function without requiring a fully formed or fully functional
nervous system. Indeed, it is precisely the integrated, organismal function of the embryo that
produces the mature nervous system. Thus, equating brain function with the onset of human
life simply because "brain death" is a medically accepted definition for the end of life, is not
based on an observable, scientific difference in the nature of the embryo or fetus. It is based
on a personal belief that brain function is the most "important" feature of human life, and
therefore is critically required for human life. However, this definition would require us to
view anyone with compromised brain function (those who are unconscious or asleep or
suffering from any medical condition that reduces or eliminates consciousness) as mere
collections of human cells, and not as human beings.
35. In conclusion, human life begins at sperm-egg fusion, a well-defined, observable 'moment of
conception' that takes less than a second. The conclusion that human life begins at spermegg fusion is objective, based on the universally accepted scientific method of distinguishing
different cell types from each other, and consistent with the factual evidence. It is entirely
independent of any specific ethical, moral, political, or religious view of human life or of
human embryos. A neutral examination of the factual evidence merely establishes the onset
of a new human life at a scientifically well defined instant, a conclusion that unequivocally
indicates that human embryos from the zygote stage forward are indeed living individuals of
the human species; i.e. human beings.
I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct to the best of my
knowledge.
DATED: This __th day of August, 2012.
______________________________
Maureen L. Condic, Ph.D.