Growing entire baby from skin cells could happen in decade
Staff Writer |
Nearly 40 years after the world was jolted by the birth of the first test-tube baby, a new revolution in reproductive technology is on the horizon.
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Within a decade or two, researchers say, scientists will likely be able to create a baby from human skin cells that have been coaxed to grow into eggs and sperm and used to create embryos to implant in a womb.
The process, in vitro gametogenesis, or I.V.G., so far has been used only in mice. But stem cell biologists say it is only a matter of time before it could be used in human reproduction — opening up mind-boggling possibilities.
With I.V.G., two men could have a baby that was biologically related to both of them, by using skin cells from one to make an egg that would be fertilized by sperm from the other. Women with fertility problems could have eggs made from their skin cells, rather than go through the lengthy and expensive process of stimulating their ovaries to retrieve their eggs.
“It gives me an unsettled feeling because we don’t know what this could lead to,†said Paul Knoepfler, a stem cell researcher at UC Davis.
“You can imagine one man providing both the eggs and the sperm, almost like cloning himself. You can imagine that eggs becoming so easily available would lead to designer babies.â€
Some scientists even talk about what they call the “Brad Pitt scenario†when someone retrieves a celebrity’s skin cells from a hotel bed or bathtub. Or a baby might have what one law professor called “multiplex†parents.
“There are groups out there that want to reproduce among themselves,†said Sonia Suter, a George Washington University law professor who began writing about I.V.G. even before it had been achieved in mice.
“You could have two pairs who would each create an embryo, and then take an egg from one embryo and sperm from the other, and create a baby with four parents.â€
I.V.G. is not the first reproductive technology to challenge the basic paradigm of baby-making.
Back when in vitro fertilization was beginning, many people were horrified by the idea of creating babies outside the human body.
And yet, I.V.F. and related procedures have become so commonplace that they now account for about 70,000, or almost 2 percent, of the babies born in the United States each year.
According to the latest estimate, there have been more than 6.5 million babies born worldwide through I.V.F. and related technologies. ■