Quote:
Spectre of babies from unborn girls
Women seeking fertility treatment could one day be offered donor eggs grown from the tissue of an aborted foetus, researchers said yesterday.
In an experiment that raises the prospect of babies with "unborn mothers", ovarian tissue was removed from seven dead foetuses and kept alive in a laboratory for four weeks.
The egg-producing follicles in the tissue continued to develop normally but did not reach the stage at which they released a healthy egg cell.
One of the scientists working on the experiment said the study could help solve the worldwide shortage of donor eggs for fertility treatment and medical research.
Although the research raises a host of ethical dilemmas, the use of eggs from foetuses is not banned in Britain.
But clinics are unlikely to be given permission to carry out the procedure within the foreseeable future.
Preliminary results from the experiment were presented in Madrid to the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction.
A team of Israeli and Dutch researchers collected ovarian tissue from seven foetuses aborted between the 22nd and 33rd weeks of pregnancy.
Six of the foetuses were aborted after doctors diagnosed severe medical problems, including one with a genetic disorder.
The other came from a mother with a serious psychiatric illness who felt unable to look after the baby.
Immature "primordial" egg-producing follicles appear in a female foetus around the 16th week of pregnancy.
The team took slices of ovarian tissue from the foetuses and cultured them in a solution of hormones and bovine calf serum for four weeks.
Some of the cells developed from the immature primordial resting stage to the secondary growth stage.
Before follicles are ready to produce eggs, they must go through many more stages of development.
Scientists have yet to create conditions in the laboratory to take follicles to ovulation.
Dr Tal Biron-Shental, of the Meir Hospital, Kfar Saba, Israel, who was involved in the study, said: "If you could mature them, you could use them for IVF donations. But there is a lot of ethical questions. Since these are still preliminary results we do not have answers to this yet."
Several teams of scientists around the world use ovarian tissue from foetuses for research. Many are working on ovarian tissue transplants for girls and young women facing chemotherapy that could make them sterile.
Prof Roger Gosden, a specialist in ovaries at the Jones Institute of Reproductive Medicine, Virginia, said that egg donation from foetuses raised questions of consent. He also questioned whether foetal donations were necessary or feasible.
"It is interesting material to study but it is very very rare and when it is obtained people have to be very sensitive to the ethics," he said.
"I do not think you need it because you can obtain biopsy ovarian material from women, with their consent, who are undergoing gynaecological procedures."
Dr Franoise Shenfield, a lecturer in infertility at University College London and an expert in medical ethics, said that society was not ready for unborn mothers.
"We have to be extremely careful before research is done into this," she said. "From a research point of view, these eggs could be valuable, but most people would be disturbed. They are already disturbed about abortion anyway.
"I would be very troubled by this, not only for ethical reasons but for psychological reasons, because what is the public going to think about where these eggs have come from?"
Nuala Scarisbrick, of the anti-abortion group Life, said: "This is macabre. It is sickening and disgusting, even by the low standards of reproductive technology."
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority said: "We do not consider the use of tissue from this source to be acceptable for infertility treatment."
Women seeking fertility treatment could one day be offered donor eggs grown from the tissue of an aborted foetus, researchers said yesterday.
In an experiment that raises the prospect of babies with "unborn mothers", ovarian tissue was removed from seven dead foetuses and kept alive in a laboratory for four weeks.
The egg-producing follicles in the tissue continued to develop normally but did not reach the stage at which they released a healthy egg cell.
One of the scientists working on the experiment said the study could help solve the worldwide shortage of donor eggs for fertility treatment and medical research.
Although the research raises a host of ethical dilemmas, the use of eggs from foetuses is not banned in Britain.
But clinics are unlikely to be given permission to carry out the procedure within the foreseeable future.
Preliminary results from the experiment were presented in Madrid to the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction.
A team of Israeli and Dutch researchers collected ovarian tissue from seven foetuses aborted between the 22nd and 33rd weeks of pregnancy.
Six of the foetuses were aborted after doctors diagnosed severe medical problems, including one with a genetic disorder.
The other came from a mother with a serious psychiatric illness who felt unable to look after the baby.
Immature "primordial" egg-producing follicles appear in a female foetus around the 16th week of pregnancy.
The team took slices of ovarian tissue from the foetuses and cultured them in a solution of hormones and bovine calf serum for four weeks.
Some of the cells developed from the immature primordial resting stage to the secondary growth stage.
Before follicles are ready to produce eggs, they must go through many more stages of development.
Scientists have yet to create conditions in the laboratory to take follicles to ovulation.
Dr Tal Biron-Shental, of the Meir Hospital, Kfar Saba, Israel, who was involved in the study, said: "If you could mature them, you could use them for IVF donations. But there is a lot of ethical questions. Since these are still preliminary results we do not have answers to this yet."
Several teams of scientists around the world use ovarian tissue from foetuses for research. Many are working on ovarian tissue transplants for girls and young women facing chemotherapy that could make them sterile.
Prof Roger Gosden, a specialist in ovaries at the Jones Institute of Reproductive Medicine, Virginia, said that egg donation from foetuses raised questions of consent. He also questioned whether foetal donations were necessary or feasible.
"It is interesting material to study but it is very very rare and when it is obtained people have to be very sensitive to the ethics," he said.
"I do not think you need it because you can obtain biopsy ovarian material from women, with their consent, who are undergoing gynaecological procedures."
Dr Franoise Shenfield, a lecturer in infertility at University College London and an expert in medical ethics, said that society was not ready for unborn mothers.
"We have to be extremely careful before research is done into this," she said. "From a research point of view, these eggs could be valuable, but most people would be disturbed. They are already disturbed about abortion anyway.
"I would be very troubled by this, not only for ethical reasons but for psychological reasons, because what is the public going to think about where these eggs have come from?"
Nuala Scarisbrick, of the anti-abortion group Life, said: "This is macabre. It is sickening and disgusting, even by the low standards of reproductive technology."
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority said: "We do not consider the use of tissue from this source to be acceptable for infertility treatment."
WTF! NO REALLY WHAT THE ********!? scream
Can you see this parent-child conversation:
"Well John, we think you're old enough to learn the truth now. You see, your mother is sterile, meaning she couldn't have children on her own. So we had a few doctors cut the eggs out of some murdered unborn female child, fertilize them and then put them into your mother so you could be created. Your real mother is a dead aborted 6 or 7 month old unborn child."
I don't have words to describe my thoughts and feelings about this..... I.. neutral
Morally, ethically, legally.. this is ******** outrageous!
P.S. a cookie to whomever recognizes at least the two major (sad) ironies in this idea.
Oh and if anyone wants to post this on another board, go on I don't care.
