BRITISH fertility clinics began destroying thousands of unclaimed human embryos yesterday after a government deadline passed at midnight.
Anti abortion groups held overnight candle lit vigils, singing hymns and saying prayers outside clinics across Britain before what they called "the mass destruction of human life" began.
In vitro fertilisation (IVF) specialists who had hoped for a reprieve to allow more time to trace the parents of the embryos said they were carrying out the disposal with reluctance.
"It has been very distressing, and frustrating for everyone, said Prof Ian Craft of the London Gynaecology and Fertility Centre.
The embryos were created in laboratories by fertilising human eggs with sperm outside the womb for implantation into women unable to have children by natural means.
The government says the embryos, which are stored in deep freezes, must be disposed of after five years unless their parents request that they be kept longer for donated for "pre natal" adoption or research.
More than 3,000 embryos are being destroyed because their parents failed to reply to letters from the clinics warning them of the deadline. Another 2,000 to 3,000 are due for disposal because their parents no longer want them.
Wednesday night's deadline was the first under a law passed in 1990.
The minute, four cell embryos will be thawed out, killed by adding a drop of alcohol or water, and then incinerated along with hospital waste.
The large scale disposal has provoked outrage in Britain and elsewhere. The Vatican called it "pre natal massacre".
"The embryos are human beings. Once they have been produced, they have a right to grow. Killing them would add a crime against the life of a human being to the illegitimacy of their production," Vatican Radio said.
A British anti abortion group, LIFE, addressed a last minute written plea for a halt to the disposal to the government's solicitor, Mr Peter Harris.
In Rome the speaker of Italy's lower house of parliament turned down a request from the far right deputy, Ms Alessandra Mussolini, for a minute's silence to mourn the destruction of the embryos.