As if the world of stem cell research needed more controversy, a study to be presented in Copenhagen today by British scientists shows that the future could produce lab-created ova and sperm. It could even mean that homosexual partners could produce children that are the genetic match of both partners.
Taking six lines of stem cells donated by couples having in vitro fertilization treatment, scientists found that the stem cells could be made into primordial germ cells and eventually into eggs and sperm.
Though the researchers stopped short of actually producing gametes (eggs or sperm), they believe their early research indicates a strong possibility of producing them in the future.
The process is also potentially useful in understanding how ovaries and testes develop and how they may be affected by pollutants. Primordial germ cells are formed too early fetal development for scientists to study them. But one of the leading theories about infertility is that is has something to do with environmental toxins.
“Many scientists believe that environmental chemical pollutants that mimic the action of hormones might interfere with human development at this stage and cause congenital abnormalities, infertility and possibly cancer, in particular testicular cancer,” Moore said.
While infertile couples would surely benefit from the implications of this research, homosexuals would also be able to take advantage of it.
This breakthrough in stem cell research, in theory, would allow the DNA to be taken from a man and traded with the DNA in an egg. Once fertilized by his partner, and carried by a surrogate mother, the resulting embryo would be a genetic combination of the two men.
