Lesbian couples 'could have own baby'

BBC ^ | Friday, 18 January, 2002

[Japedo]

Lesbian couples may be able to have a baby that shares both their genes following a new technique pioneered in the US.

Scientists at the Reproductive Genetics Institute in Chicago have devised a way to create "artificial sperm" from any cell in a woman's body which can be used to fertilise another woman's egg.

The new method is already being tested on human eggs and could be available in as little as 18 months' time.

It was initially developed to allow men with no sperm - those who have received radiotherapy or chemotherapy for cancer, for example - to father children.

But it is being seen as a way of enabling lesbian couples to have a baby with genes from both partners, BBC Two's Newsnight programme reported.

US scientists are now trying to produce viable human embryos after the process, known as haploidisation, proved successful in experiments on mice.

It involves taking half the genetic material from one cell and injecting it into another woman's egg, resulting in an embryo which contains half of the mother's genes and half of the cell donor's genes.

A British expert has been working with the Chicago team and told Newsnight that the results of the research so far were "promising".

Mohammed Taranissi, of the Assisted Gynaecology Research Centre in London, said: "It's being done in human eggs as we speak and the first results are going to be presented at a conference in April.

"It has been done, it looks promising... I believe its going to be available sooner than we expected. We initially thought two to three years; now 18 months."

Adele and Dawn, a lesbian couple from Coventry, told Newsnight they wanted their names put forward for any medical trial of the technique.

"It would mean everything to us if we could have our own baby," they told the programme.

But Professor Bill Ledger of Sheffield University, who works on human embryonic stem cells, told the programme he disapproved of haploidisation.

'Spare part' baby "The use of this technology has a high risk of creating damaged people and therefore I don't think it should be allowed to go ahead," he said.

The Chicago team, led by Yuri Verlinsky, made headlines last year with the birth of Adam Nash - the first so-called "spare part" baby.

Adam was born from an embryo specially selected to match his sister Molly, who needed matching stem cells to save her from the fatal illness Fanconi's Anaemia.

Both children are now well.

[Japedo]

I saw this on Fox early this morning, Outraged doesn't even begin to cover my feelings on this.

God Help our country!!

[Pete53]

Unbelievable!!!!

[dixie sass]

Good post Japedo. GOD help mankind. This goes against everything I have ever been taught.

[stuartcr]

Would this be a virgin birth?

[stuartcr]

I guess this would mean you have to learn new things.

[FreeTally]

Scientists at the Reproductive Genetics Institute in Chicago have devised a way to create "artificial sperm" from any cell in a woman's body which can be used to fertilise another woman's egg.

Uh-huh, sure.

[dixie sass]

Are you saying that you advocate this? This is the same thing as cloning or as close to it as you can get. I learn constantly, but somethings, like GOD's law should never be tampered with.

[Dimensio]

Any word on how "stable" the resulting zygote would be? That's my main concern here -- and I've not seen any word on whether or not the resulting zygote would be as healthy or stable as one created with a sperm and egg union.

[dixie sass]

This was on the Fox and Friends show this morning. They are already doing other types of cloning - why not this.

[Long Cut]

Yup, like how to deal with the mentally screwed-up children this will produce. I'm just SO happy that the lesbians can have what THEY want. Now how about some scientific magic to give the children what THEY need- Fathers, and loving two-parent NORMAL families, as opposed to arrangements of people whose goal is to prove "We can, too!(wahhh!)".
I guess, if the children so produced are MALE (if the man-haters allow them to be born) they'll be told how valuable they are once they learn the circumstances of their birth.

[lawdude]

What could be more disgusting than a baby that loooked like Janet Reno and Elton John!

[dixie sass]

Wouldn't you think that it is pretty stable if they are saying it will be available in 18 months? Or do you think it is an exaggeration?

[TADSLOS]

So, I guess you can determine the baby's sexual orientation by the hair on the upper lip and deep octave voice or the lispy whine and propensity to teethe anally...

[Japedo]

and I've not seen any word on whether or not the resulting zygote would be as healthy or stable as one created with a sperm and egg union.

I have heard nothing past this report.. Fox drew my attention to it this morning. I can't imagine it would be healthy or stable either. This is no different then the tower of babble IMHO. When Man try's to Become GOD.. God will stop them swiftly in their tracks.

[FreeTally]

Any word on how "stable" the resulting zygote would be? That's my main concern here -- and I've not seen any word on whether or not the resulting zygote would be as healthy or stable as one created with a sperm and egg union.

This is what I was getting at. Seems unlikely that even if this were true, that this would produce a person who would live a normal life. And of course, no one probably knows the answer. This is probably just another, "Hey, look what we (calim we) can do". Of course, we would then need laws protecting "non-male contributed" persons. Wouldn't want these poor souls discriminated against, would we?

[Dimensio]

Wouldn't you think that it is pretty stable if they are saying it will be available in 18 months? Or do you think it is an exaggeration?

No, I think that they can get a prototype out in 18 months, but there wasn't any mention in the article on how stable a zygote produced in such a fashion would be.

I'm not a biologist, so my concerns may be misguided, but I would like to know if the resulting zygote (and resulting human being) could suffer any ill effects from having half of their DNA coming from a somewhat less conventional source.

[Japedo]

LOL, I shudder to think........

[Politicalmom]

Oh, BLECH!!!

[dixie sass]

Okay, I understand and agree with it. When I first heard this, I envisioned zombie like creatures, pale, pallid, automons. I shudder to think what will be created.

[RightWhale]

Cloning tech will give rise to massive changes in public ethics and private morals. There is the trend to merge all the races so that in ten or so generations everybody will part something and part something else, but there is also this new tech, which is not yet really underway, to create new kinds of people.

Cloning of humans is not a good idea, and this high-tech creation of children will lead to problems.