This Mouse Has Two Biological Dads?!
In a lab in Japan, scientists transformed cells from the tails of male mice into eggs. They fertilized the eggs with ordinary mouse sperm and implanted them in surrogate mouse moms. The experiment was repeated 630 times. Although most of the pregnancies failed, seven healthy mice were born.Â
Each of those seven baby mice had two biological dads.
The experiment has staggering implications for the future of human reproduction. Biologist Katsuhiko Hayashi, who led the project, predicts that within a decade, a human skin cell could be used to create a viable human egg. The biotech companies Conception Bio and Gameto are already working on this technology.
This would allow same-sex couples to have natural offspring. Perhaps even solo reproduction will be possible, with one man generating both the sperm and the egg.
Some conservatives are alarmed. “The global fertility industry seeks to erase women from procreation one manufactured egg at a time,” Jordan Boyd wrote at The Federalist.
Actually, this technology would be empowering for women who want to have children but can’t produce viable eggs—or for older women who have already gone through menopause.
Younger women would also benefit. If a piece of skin can be turned into a viable egg, women doing IVF will be saved from daily hormone injections and from needles in their vaginas, both of which are part of the standard retrieval process today.
Ben Hurlbut, a bioethicist at Arizona State University, told USA Today that this technology is “a perversion of the sanctity of procreation as
Article from Reason.com
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