When Did I Begin? investigates the theoretical, moral and biological issues surrounding the debate over the beginning of human life. With the continuing controversy over the use of in vitro fertilization techniques and experimentation with human embryos, these issues have been forced into the arena of public debate. The answer to the question, 'When did I begin?' draws on both scientific evidence, and on the philosophical concepts of the presence of the human individaul. As a leading theologian and moral philosopher, thoroughly conversant with modern embryology, Norman Ford, a Salesian priest, is well qualified to bridge the gap between the biological and philosophical point of view. Dr Ford argues that a human individual could not begin before definitive individuation occurs with the appearance of the primative streak about two weeks after fertilisation. While he does not specifically address any moral issues regarding the treatment of human embryos, the author views reading of this book as an essential prerequisite for such moral considerations. The implications of Dr Ford's answer to the question posed in the title will be crucially important for fully evaluating such problems as embryo experimentation and contraception, for a range of readers from embryologists and physicians to moral philosophers and theologians. The book has already stimulated considerable interest and debate, and is now available in paperback for the first time.

Information on early embryo wastage is relevant for debating the status of human embryos. Two main points of view confront each other. Theists hold that human embryos should be treated as human persons from the moment of conception because, even accepting that human beings are the fruit of evolution, they are part of a divine project. Without a developmental event prior to which the human embryo could not be considered a human being, embryos should be regarded as if they were human subjects. After all, if one believes in the resurrection of the dead, it makes no difference at what stage one's life ends. Secularists oppose the idea of granting absolute value to human life from its beginning because early human embryos lack individuality and sentience. Personifying embryos is morally absurd because it would mean that countless human beings never had even the slightest chance to express their potential and, in the light of this catastrophic loss, one would expect early pregnancy wastage to have become an important research priority; this is not the case. In practical terms, most Western countries have legalized first-trimester abortion, de facto giving embryos a lower status than that of full person.

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