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If there was ever a time for men to feel redundant in the reproductive department, now is the time. A story in The Age today describes how scientists in England have managed to create sperm from embryonic stem cell. The major breakthrough is thought to help mend the problem of male infertility. But does anyone else find this slightly alarming? First, the physical act of male and female copulating to breed has been made unnecessary with the introduction of IVF and sperm donors, so that now women don't need a man at all (in the physical sense) to have children. And now? It turns out that men aren't even needed to donate sperm anymore! All those stem cells that we've been convincing people to store safely away is really an elaborate plan to rid the world of any need for men, so that women can rule......Not really. But I'm sure there are some men out there, somewhere that are secretly thinking "well...I'm not needed anymore."
Australians for Ethical Stem Cell Research director, Dr David van Gend, sums up my thoughts on the issue well:
...The "abuse of embryonic humans had reached a sinister new low".
He said the researchers could have created sperm from non-embryonic stem cells.
"This is an abuse both because of its implications, namely, that scientists can now exploit a dead embryo as a source of sperm, but also because it was entirely unnecessary to use embryos as the source of stem cells," he said.
Sourced from The Age: Men superceded, sperm grown in lab
Of course, it is great news for those who have been deemed infertile. But I can't help but think of Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection...
4 comments:
I an not needed!! Thanks to research we are now officially redundant,superflous and a waste of space. Oh joy!! but thats whats I would have to call 'Historical Kharma'.
i don't think ivf has made the sex act redundant. Those of us who are forced to use ivf would much rather do it the normal way if it would work.
But yes this is rather amazing/bewildering that they can do this.
Hell yes, I'm with Bells. As someone who had assisted conception for one child and who managed it au naturale with the second, I can tell you which is more fun!
I actually find this a wee bit scary...I think we have reached a point with our technological ability that sometimes we should sit back and ask whether we SHOULD do something just because we can.
Bells, Amanda, I totally agree with you. Particularly the bit about should we even be doing something. But, I guess if there are answers to female infertility, there should be some for me too right?
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