Image – Shutterstock: Research Laboratory
‘Babies could be born without biological mothers’ was a recent headline in The Telegraph. ‘Scientists make embryos from human skin DNA for first time’ was the BBC’s headline. This story broke with the publication of a paper, on 30 September 2025, by Nuria Marti Gutierrez and her colleagues in the publication ‘Nature Communications’.
This academic paper can be described as a breakthrough in what is known as in vitro gametogenesis (IVG); that is the creation of sperm and eggs from other cells, in this case from skin cells. This method has been used before using mice. Mouse eggs were reconstructed, subsequently fertilised, implanted and produced live baby mice. These scientists took it a step further.
Research Material
As we know, just because an experimental technique can be used in mice, it does not make it right that it should be used in humans. This research is a further example of the manipulation of early human lives who are turned into research material, often with the knowledge they will be damaged, then mostly discarded. It is yet another example of an assault on the dignity of human life at its earliest stages.
It is important that pro-lifers condemn this latest development. And it is also important that we understand it. This topic may not be an everyday conversation for most of us, but we should be aware of what is involved and what the consequences could be.
IVG starts like cloning by taking the nucleus from a skin cell and inserting it into a donor egg that has had its nucleus removed. The modified egg is then fertilised by normal sperm. The newly cloned embryo is then subject to manipulation to remove half of its chromosomes to become effectively like an egg again – a process the researchers dubbed mitomeiosis. This new egg is then fertilised with sperm to create a second embryo.
In this study, 82 of these eggs were created and fertilised and 9% continued to develop to the blastocyst stage (six days), but were damaged by the whole process. All the eggs were defective by having unusual complements of chromosomes, and hence the embryos produced from them were similarly defective. In a nutshell, this technique involves creating a cloned embryo, manipulating it to become a defective egg, then fertilising it to create another embryo, also defective.
Despite the alarmist headlines, we should be aware that this research is very preliminary and a lot would need to change to get anywhere near the creation of healthy eggs which could be used for infertility treatment, potentially leading to a live birth.
Satisfying adult desires
IVG is another example of the quest to create human embryos in order to satisfy adult desires. The technique could enable egg creation from males so that a same sex-couple could both contribute genetically to a child. That is, a skin cell from one male is converted to an egg that is then fertilised with sperm from the other male.
The technique has the potential to be used in IVF to enable the creation of large numbers of eggs without the current risks of ovarian hyperstimulation that produces only a limited number of eggs from a woman. The large supply of eggs could also enable the creation of a very large number of embryos for subjection to genetic testing to select the ‘best’ and discard the rest. This would extend the opportunity for eugenic selection on the grounds of traits as well as disease risk.
While work reported in the Gutierrez study was aimed at egg creation, it takes them closer to the goal of both sperm and egg production. If achieved, this could mean one person could supply both egg and sperm to produce offspring. It could also mean one woman in a lesbian relationship could provide skin cells to create sperm and the other could provide either natural or manipulated eggs. The technique also risks creating an opportunity for skin cells to be used without consent to create eggs and subsequently embryos.
Pandora’s box
IVG is another malevolent ‘sensation’ to fly out of the pandora’s box which was opened with IVF. Like many other artificial reproduction techniques, this research enables children to be produced within the context of alternate forms of family, which studies show are less than ideal for the child. Children are not commodities to please adults.
This latest research shows us that science is actually a long way from replicating nature. The IVG procedure which involves discarding the 23 chromosomes from the first embryo created, is a very crude version of the real thing. During the natural process of producing eggs a process occurs that ensures genetic variation, so that each egg is unique, and when subsequently fertilised, produces a unique individual with not only the correct complement of chromosomes, but also the genetic mixing essential to creating human uniqueness and individuality.
If IVG were ever to be used to produce born offspring, we have no idea whatsoever what that might mean for the ongoing genetic health of the child, the ongoing impact upon population genetic variability, or any number of yet poorly understood phenomena that are related to genetic individuality.
Unacceptable practices
Yet again, infertility treatment is the sugar coating on this sinister experimentation with embryonic human lives. The researchers claim that their work will help with infertility ‘treatment’, for women who want a genetically related child but cannot produce their own eggs for whatever reason, such as age or a specific condition which limits egg supply. Of course, our hearts go out to couples who cannot have children. But this type of research exploits the vulnerability of infertile couples whose plight is used to gain public acceptance of ethically unacceptable practices.
IVG is an example of curious scientists exploring what can be done. Scientific curiosity has brought immense benefits to humanity. But if the last century taught us anything at all, it taught us that human beings should not be used as the subjects of experimentation which will not benefit them and is likely to kill them. Just because something can be done does not mean that it should be done.
If you’re reading this and haven’t yet donated to SPUC, please consider helping now. Thank You!
