This article in today's London Telegraph states, "Scientists have grown eggs from tissue taken from five-year-old girls meaning future childhood cancer sufferers could go on to have children of their own." Sounds wonderful and promising for these little girls, should they ever be at risk of lost fertility from cancer treatments.
What were their results? "They worked with 19 patients between the ages of five and 20. On average they were able to retrieve an average of nine eggs per patient and 34 per cent of them were successfully matured."
Critically though, this technology can be used by women who just want to delay childbearing. Also, concerns over germ line manipulation taking place in ovarian tissue for screening in or screening out genetic traits for future children.
Curious, Dr. Woodruff spoke on this technique and its use for preserving endangered and threatened species.
2 comments:
could you say more about your critical view of the use of this technology to delay childbearing?
Where is the public discussion first about how old is too old to bear children? Are there limits? If so, what are they and why. Another example of a technology which will be here before good public policy and public discussion. And what about the children? Does a child have the right not to be born to a mother who is old enough to be their grand parent? Those would be critiques of such technology.
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