Scientists say they have, for the first time, cloned human embryos capable of producing embryonic stem cells. The accomplishment is a long-sought step toward harnessing the potential power of embryonic stem cells to treat many human diseases. But the work also raises a host of ethical concerns.
Tag: embryos
Birth Rates Good After Implanting 1 Embryo, Study Finds
Among women who undergo in vitro fertilization (IVF) to become pregnant, there is no difference in delivery rates among those implanted with one prescreened embryo compared to those implanted with two unscreened embryos, new study findings reveal.
What is In Vitro Fertilization?
In vitro fertilization (IVF), is a form of assisted reproductive technology. In IVF, sperm are combined with an egg or eggs in a Petri dish in an attempt to achieve fertilization. The embryos which result from this process are then …
Infertility doctors and couples are fuming over a proposed bill in North Dakota
Fargo, ND (WDAY TV) — A controversial piece of a abortion bill before the North Dakota Senate, has some couples and their infertility doctors fuming.
Senate Bill 2302 would limit the number of embryos a physician could transfer, and it would prevent a woman diagnosed with cancer, from storing embryos during chemotherapy.
Kathy Burgau, back in 1998, told the story of her cancer battle, hoping to have a family after chemotherapy, she had embryos frozen, so she could have children after cancer treatment. That was done here in Fargo, but this bill before the North Dakota senate tomorrow, does not allow us to freeze any embryos. It would make that illegal.
Dr. Stephanie Dahl, Reproductive Medicine Specialist: “If the bill passes, couples who want to freeze embryos before chemo, would have to go out of state. It is available now.”
And not just cancer patients. The proposed bill would limit the number of fertilized eggs an invitro-fertilization specialist could transfer into a patient during that cycle to two eggs. It could financially and emotionally cripple couples trying to conceive by way of IVF. Read full article.
An Ethics Debate Over Embryos on the Cheap
Dr. Ernest Zeringue was looking for a niche in the cutthroat industry of fertility treatments. He seized on price, a huge obstacle for many patients, and in late 2010 began advertising a deal at his Davis, Calif., clinic unheard of anywhere else: Pregnancy for $9,800 or your money back.
That’s about half the price for in vitro fertilization at many other clinics, which do not include money-back guarantees. Typically, insurance coverage is limited and patients pay again and again until they give birth — or give up.
Those patients use their own eggs and sperm — or carefully select donors when necessary — and the two are combined in a petri dish to create a batch of embryos. Usually one or two are then transferred to the womb. Any embryos left over are the property of the customers. Read full article.
US Scientists Successfully Make Embryos with 2 Women, 1 Man
Scientists in Oregon have created embryos with genes from one man and two women, using a provocative technique that could someday be used to prevent babies from inheriting certain rare incurable diseases.
The researchers at Oregon Health & Sciences University said they are not using the embryos to produce children, and it is not clear when or even if this technique will be put to use. But it has already stirred a debate over its risks and ethics in Britain, where scientists did similar work a few years ago.
The British experiments, reported in 2008, led to headlines about the possibility someday of babies with three parents. But that’s an overstatement. The DNA from the second woman amounts to less than 1 percent of the embryo’s genes, and it isn’t the sort that makes a child look like Mom or Dad. The procedure is simply a way of replacing some defective genes that sabotage the normal workings of cells. Read full article.
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Judge rules on when conception begins
A Brisbane judge has made what is believed to be a world-first ruling on conception that will have a significant impact on Queensland parents who have children through surrogacy.
The decision, made by Brisbane Children’s Court judge Leanne Clare on Wednesday, ruled conception only occurred when a fertilised egg was implanted in a woman’s womb – that is, the moment of pregnancy – rather than at the moment the egg was fertilised.
“The point of conceiving a child is the commencement of the pregnancy, which involves an active process within a woman’s body.”
While the ruling has no impact on birth through natural conception, it has a major impact on surrogate parents and those with children born after in-vitro fertilisation programs.
The ruling will stop disputes in parenting orders when couples seek to have a child through a surrogacy arrangement.
Under Queensland and New South Wales surrogacy legislation, surrogacy arrangements – where the birth mother assigns parenthood to the surrogate parents – must be signed before a child is ”conceived’’. Read full article.
Survey Says: Use Embryos for Research
A survey found almost half of South Australians believe embryos left over from fertility treatments should be used for research. Of the 2693 surveyed, 21 percent said the leftover embryos should be donated to would-be parents. Just 6 per cent believed they should be discarded.
Genetic Screening of Embryos: What is PGD and PGS?
PGD or PGS can be important testing for patients who have a history of serious genetic diseases in their families or who have had problems getting pregnant, or keeping a pregnancy.
PA Appeals Court Upholds Awarding of Embryos to Wife
For the first time, a Pennsylvania appeals court has confronted the complex question of who gets custody of embryos, ruling this week in favor of a Chester County woman who hopes to give birth using frozen embryos that her estranged husband wants destroyed.