Who needs men?
Human sperm has been artificially created in a lab using stem cells, according to British scientists.
While producing babies using lab-spawned sperm is unlikely to happen in the near future, if ever, lead researcher Karim Nayernia of Newcastle University said the study “could help us develop new ways to help couples suffering infertility so they can have a child which is genetically their own.”
Infertility affects 7.3 million couples in the United States, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.
“While we can understand that some people may have concerns, this does not mean that humans can be produced ‘in a dish’ and we have no intention of doing this,” the team wrote in the journal Stem Cells and Development.
Critics say the research team was prematurely shooting blanks — because the lab sperm appeared abnormal and didn’t have the specific shape or movement of natural sperm.
Famed fertility doctor Geoffrey Sher said the development raises ethical questions.
Although not against cell-stem research, Sher said at issue is how to tell if lab-created sperm was mobile or healthy.
“You’d have to make a baby to find out,” he said.
“If the baby wasn’t born normally, who would be responsible, the clinic or society itself?”
However, Sher lauded the research. “It could be used to diagnose the causes of infertility,” he said.