For the first time, scientists made eggs from a human blood cell. This is the first step towards the possibility of mass production of human eggs using body tissue or the blood of other people.
Scientists in Japan have used human blood to create human eggs in a laboratory, according to a new study published last Thursday in Science. The work marks a major breakthrough in stem cell research.
Although the eggs produced by Professor Saitou and his colleagues are too immature to be fertilized, much less to grow into a human child, the findings open up the possibility for the birth of babies made from the genetic material of relatives, dead or alive. They can also provide infertile people or same-sex partners with the opportunity to produce a child made from their own DNA.
The next step, according to the researchers, is to apply a similar process to human sperm production and create eggs that are mature enough to be fertilized.
But here's the thing: it's not just eggs and cloning. Biotechnology researchers are creating the most powerful technologies invented since the splitting of the atom. For example:
CRISPR allows any cell or life form to be genetically modified, potentially used in life-saving genetic therapy or unleashing a genetically modified viral pandemic.
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Artificial life forms are created without predicates in creation or evolution.
Researchers put human stem cells in the brain of a mouse and make other forms of chimeric laboratory animals.
The list goes on and on.
However, outside the research community, there is little coherent national and international discussion on how to find ways to manage these experiments or draw clear boundaries. Indeed, with the exception of some restrictions on government funding, scientists tend to be ethically bound only by their conscience. This is unacceptable.