Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has announced scientists are close to pulling off the seemingly impossible: Growing human eggs and sperm in the lab.
This could potentially revolutionize reproductive medicine, enabling people of any gender or sexual orientation to have biologically related children without traditional sex or egg and sperm donation.
According to The Guardian, HFEA's last meeting showed that this technology, called in vitro gametogenesis (IVG), may be here in just ten years, the Guardian reported.
Technology reprograms stem cells or skin cells to act as either eggs or sperm, a technique that has been successful in mice.
Scientists produced a healthy offspring from two male mice. While the leap from mice to humans is a huge challenge, researchers believe that it could be achieved within the next two to ten years.
The most significant implication of IVG technology is the democratization of parenthood.
Peter Thompson, chief executive of HFEA, told The Guardian it could offer individuals with low fertility counts or same-sex couples the chance to have biological children.
IVG might even make way for the possibility of multi-parent couples having genetically related children which could lead to significant ethical issues.
The conception of a child from the genetic contributions of three or more parents evokes questions about the title "parent" and what rights will be attributed to such children.
As Julia Chain, chair of HFEA, admitted, "It feels like we ought to have Steven Spielberg on this committee."
However, public opinion on IVG is generally positive, particularly in the context of fertility treatment.
Studies conducted in the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Japan support the technology, especially since it would use a patient's cells and be less invasive than traditional IVF.
However, there are concerns about how the approach could be misused.
HFEA acknowledges the issues, Gizmodo reports.
