Drawing on his experience both as a medical practitioner and as a member of France’s Comité d’éthique (ethics committee), René Frydman addresses the issue of experimentation on the human embryo within the wider framework of a re-examination of the relations between science, religion, the law, and ethics. At a time when legislation concerning bioethics is progressing, but not without some ambiguities, René Frydman persuasively defends a predictive and humanist approach to medicine, which will provide greater therapeutic possibilities without overly sanctifying the embryo.

René Frydman, a gynaecologist-obstetrician practising in Paris hospitals, is known for the birth of France’s first test-tube baby, Amandine. He is the co-author, with Dr. Julien Cohen-Solal, of Ma grossesse, mon enfant.