A colleague just sent me this article. Last year, when I was in London, attending the annual ISMAAR conference on Mild Approaches to Assisted Reproduction, I heard Teresa Woodruff from Northwestern speak on her research in this area.
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.
Author Profile
- Jennifer Lahl, MA, BSN, RN, is founder and president of The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network. Lahl couples her 25 years of experience as a pediatric critical care nurse, a hospital administrator, and a senior-level nursing manager with a deep passion to speak for those who have no voice. Lahl’s writings have appeared in various publications including Cambridge University Press, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Dallas Morning News, and the American Journal of Bioethics. As a field expert, she is routinely interviewed on radio and television including ABC, CBS, PBS, and NPR. She is also called upon to speak alongside lawmakers and members of the scientific community, even being invited to speak to members of the European Parliament in Brussels to address issues of egg trafficking; she has three times addressed the United Nations during the Commission on the Status of Women on egg and womb trafficking.
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