“Everybody has a father and a mother…” that’s a
truth universally acknowledged; however, how would you react if I said that in
a close future there could be children with just one parent?
This is going to be possible thank to the magic
of stem cells. Researchers at Tokyo University
in Japan have developed sperm and egg cells from stem cell in mice, fertilizing
them to create healthy offspring. The
leader of the team sustains that stem cells can morph into any cell, including
the reproductive ones, so babies might de conceived using those cells from one parent
(man or woman).
Hank
Greely, a bioethicist at Stanford University claims that it is a big step in reproductive medicine, considering all the gay and lesbian couples who would be capable
of having their own children, who will be genetically their own. Women who have
passed their childbearing years or who are infertile for medical reasons could
be also beneficiated by this discovery.
The next step in the research is to perform the
experiment using human stem cell, but due to the similarity between humans and
mice, there are highly chances of duplicate the results successfully.
As any other genetic experiment, there are a lot
of moral questions to solve. Is morally acceptable to create children using
this method? Would this newborn be a clone from its parent? Is this the beginning of
an even more individual society?
In response to the first question, Daniel
Sulmasy, a professor of medicine and ethics at the University of Chicago said: “Whatever we’ve done in humankind — whether
it’s discovering fire or creating the wheel — you can use these things to do
lots of good and you can use them immoral ways.”
(For further information please visit: http://www.advocate.com/health/health-news/2012/10/05/fertility-research-opens-possibilities-gay-and-lesbian-couples
and http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2012/10/03/science.1226889.full)
Mmm, that's a really interesting piece of information, but I found it a kind of selfish and socking at the same time. I consider that using just your own stem cells to “create” your own child would be similar to clone yourself, or at least that’s what I conclude. Maybe as a way for infertile people to conceive a son will be a reasonable procedure, but with all respect I wouldn’t use it for homosexual couples. Why ? I consider that raising a kid into an environment like that couldn’t give an appropriate place for it. I know that I will look like a person from Middle Ages, conservative or narrow minded but that’s my opinion (with all respect).
ReplyDeleteI think that your opinion is right, and I agree with you the concerns regarding giving the opportunity of being parents to homosexual parents since I am not sure if our society is ready to accept those types of family since I believe that they could be good fathers or mothers, but our prejudices may be harmful for those kids.
DeleteOn the other hand, I respect your point of view.
Ok, great. There is only one thing that bugs me, and that is because there is not enough info about that, nothing else.
ReplyDeleteYou expressed that gay couples could have children of their own with one parent. I know gay population can be either female or male, but the thing is: Can male gay couples have a child, even though they don't have the reproductive system women do have?
In these cases, male gay couples have to use a surrogate mother. In traditional "in vitro system" they also need a egg donor (with the genetic informtion of her) and the sperm of one of them.
DeleteI think that this new method of reproduction is great. Actually, in my opinion, there is not a big difference between artificial insemination and stem cells reproduction. What I mean is that with both methods the mother of the child might not know the father. So maybe it is more secure to know that the kid comes only from your body. Unlike artificial insemination, in which sometimes women don`t know who has donated sperm.
ReplyDeleteI thnk, as Constanza, that this new way of having babies is not bad. If you thinf of those couples that are unable to hace babies because one of the parents has a problem or just because they are homosexual and cant have babies, this seems to be the perfect option for them. I really wish that this research chould go on and reach some absollutely positive results.
ReplyDelete