Making new humans without eggs or sperm is only a decade away, according to fertility researchers and experts. Innovations in reproductive technology charge ahead at a dizzying speed, regardless of the consequences.
The process, known as in vitro gametogenesis, is similar to in vitro fertilization, except for one important caveat: it uses stem cells, instead of an egg and sperm, to create a baby. (READ MORE: ‘Fertility Equality’ is the Next Frontier for California’s Civil Rights Regime)
IVG uses adult stem cells — such as blood and skin cells — to make babies. According to MIT Technology Review writer Jessica Hamzelou, scientists have already successfully performed the experiment on mice.
“The advances could herald the end of infertility — there’s no need to worry about a lack of healthy eggs or sperm if you can create new ones in the lab,” Hamzelou writes. “It would open up alternative routes to parenthood as well. Same-sex couples could have genetically related children.”
Amrita Pande, a sociologist at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, told USA Today and the group of researchers at the National Academy of Sciences that “the search for a ‘perfect’ race, ‘perfect’ baby, ‘perfect generation’ is not science fiction.”
Katie Hasson, a reporter for the Biopolitical Times, wrote that the tone of most scientists and researchers was “predictably one of approval.”
“Despite some scientists’ more targeted and circumspect assessments, clinicians in the fertility industry and biotech entrepreneurs are clearly salivating over the prospect of rolling out this speculative technology on a mass scale,” Hasson notes. “Repeated claims at the workshop that IVG will help ‘millions of people’ pointed to anticipation of an expansive range of expected uses and vast potential markets.”
These new markets include 70-year-old women having biological children to the generation of “large numbers of embryos in order to screen for health risks or desired traits.”
However, Hamzelou writes that there are some concerns about the stem cells’ viability in relation to a baby’s development.
“One worry is that our cells accumulate DNA damage as we get older — it’s thought to be one of the reasons many cancers are more likely to affect us later in life,” Hamzelou notes. “And body cells are thought to have more mutations than germ cells that form eggs and sperm. A skin cell taken from a 50-year-old is going to have many more mutations than a typical egg or sperm cell from a 30-year-old. We don’t know if or how these might affect an embryo, or a baby.”
Despite these concerns, private venture capitalists are already funding start-ups for IVG, according to reporting from USA Today reporter Karen Weintraub.
“While the science may be driven by curiosity, everyone agrees it will be used to make money from people desperate to continue their biological line or just willing to pay for the offspring of their choice,” Weintraub writes.
Human life is a gift and should be treated as such. However, if scientists and prospective parents want to avoid ending up with “Frankenstein babies,” they might need to avoid “designer babies” as well.
Elizabeth Crawford is a rising senior at Hillsdale College studying politics. A member of The American Spectator’s 2023 intern class, Elizabeth enjoys drinking good tea and plans to pursue a career in journalism.
