Could Science Soon Let Gay Couples Have Biological Children Together?
Could Science Soon Let Gay Couples Have Biological Children Together?
Steve Williams
Care2 Causes
You may have heard in the news that researchers now believe they can create children who are biologically linked to both same-sex parents by exploiting stem cell technology. Is this true, and if so, could the method really be available in as little as two years as some media reports are suggesting?
The Sunday Times reports that researchers from Cambridge University working with the Weizmann Institute of Israel have demonstrated for the first time that it is possible to create what are known as germ cells, simply the egg or sperm cells, from adult skin samples and stem cell lines.
A similar approach has been tried before in mice, and with some success, but until now researchers have never been able to replicate those results with human genetic material.
Specifically in this case, the researchers were able to create new germ cells from ten different donors, with success in each experiment. Critically, they were able to pinpoint the gene that is crucial to allowing researchers to reprogram cells and wipe out what are known as the cells’ epigenetic mutations–in a very basic sense these kinds of mutations happen as a result of our environments and experiences. Obviously, if we are creating a new life we need to reset the cells that we are using to try to make sure that none of the epigentic mutations affect the prospective child. The gene identified by the researchers, known as SOX17, represents a key insight into how researchers may guard against the passing on of these genetic factors.
Lead researcher Professor Azim Surani of Cambridge University is quoted as saying:
We have succeeded in the first and most important step of this process, which is to show we can make these very early human stem cells in a dish. We have also discovered that one of the things that happens in these germ cells is that epigenetic mutations, the cell mistakes that occur with age, are wiped out. That means the cell is regenerated and reset, so while the rest of the cells in the body have aged and contain genetic mistakes, these ones don’t. We can’t say no mutations are passed on, but mostly it doesn’t happen.
Researchers on the project predict that this approach could be used to help infertile couples conceive because it could wipe out those so called genetic mistakes that have led to them being infertile and potentially allow them to conceive children who are biologically their own. Where many of the news reports have shown excitement is in the fact that the researchers have also said there’s no reason why genetic material couldn’t be harvested from same-sex parents, meaning that they too could have children with whom they are both biologically related. The researchers claim there’s already been some interest in that area.
Could This Technique Really Be Helping Same-Sex Parent Have Babies Just a Few Years From Now?
Some of the reports http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2015/02/23/babies-with-two-biological-same-sex-parents-could-become-a-reality-in-just-two-years/ on this study, which is published in the science journal Cell, claim that the research could mean that same-sex parent babies are potentially just a few years away, but sadly this isn’t likely to be true.
While technically this kind of therapy could be made available in a relatively short space of time as it largely hinges on established scientific techniques, there is a long process toward offering any kind of assisted reproduction therapy based on this technique. The results have to be replicated, the technique finessed and fully explored, and robust safety checks would have to be made before the therapy could even be considered for use. Then there are the legal issues surrounding this kind of assisted reproduction.
In fact, in the UK where this research is being conducted there would need to be a change in the law in order to license the medical therapy. At the time of writing the UK’s upper legislative chamber, the House of Lords, has in its hands a bill that would legalize a technique to eliminate mitochondrial disease by using mitochondria from a donor–something the papers have (somewhat misleadingly) said will create “three person” babies. That move has met with heavy resistance not just from within the UK but from conservative countries in the EU who are attempting to leverage European law to block the legislation from advancing. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/11425602/Three-parent-babies-Britain-has-breached-EU-law-MEPs-warn.html Any future change in the law, and in particular any change that could allow same-sex couples the chance of having biological children, is likely to meet with similar, if not even greater, resistance.
We can also expect that other campaign groups will put up heavy resistance as they will claim, as they actually already have, that this is yet another step toward so-called designer babies. It is worth noting though that at no time have the researchers suggested actually tampering with a child’s DNA, and that’s not what this technique does. If anything, it is about enabling genetic transfer from two parents who otherwise could not have children. However, those arguments will have to be thoroughly addressed and anxieties reassured before the technique could look like a valid prospect.
Essentially, the news of this scientific advance represents an important step toward not just helping same-sex parents but also infertile couples, and if this technique can be replicated and its safety evaluated and approved, we could in the future see babies born who were conceived in this way. It’s unhelpful though to immediately start scaremongering or exaggerating what has actually been achieved here, and that’s not to downplay these results but to recognize, as always, that context is everything.
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