Dubai - A Fertility clinic in Dubai will next week dispose of about 5000 human embryos on religious grounds.
A 2008 federal law banned the storage of fertilised human eggs due to religion-based concerns over "mixing in the lineage" between families, the English-language Khaleej Times said.
It did not elaborate, but Islam calls for children to know the identity of their biological parents and to take their biological father's name.
Eggs can be fertilised outside the womb during IVF, which produces excess fertilised eggs that can be frozen for future use.
An estimated 5000 fertilised eggs are stored at the state-owned Dubai Gynaecology and Fertility Centre, the only centre in the Gulf state allowed to perform IVF, Khaleej Times said.
Another 5000 fertilised eggs are believed to be stored at Al Tawam Hospital in Al Ain, around 150km south-east of the Emirati capital of Abu Dhabi, the paper said.