R
At 07:59 PM 2/9/2002 -0800, you wrote:
>Men redundant? Now we don't need women either
>
>Scientists have developed an artificial womb that allows embryos to grow
>outside the body
>
>Talk about it here
>
>Robin McKie
>Sunday February 10, 2002
>The Observer
>
>Doctors are developing artificial wombs in which embryos can grow outside
>a woman's body. The work
>has been hailed as a breakthrough in treating the childless.
>
>Scientists have created prototypes made out of cells extracted from
>women's bodies. Embryos
>successfully attached themselves to the walls of these laboratory wombs
>and began to grow. However,
>experiments had to be terminated after a few days to comply with in-vitro
>fertilisation (IVF)
>regulations.
>
>'We hope to create complete artificial wombs using these techniques in a
>few years,' said Dr
>Hung-Ching Liu of Cornell University's Centre for Reproductive Medicine
>and Infertility. 'Women with
>damaged uteruses and wombs will be able to have babies for the first time.'
>
>The pace of progress in the field has startled experts. Artificial wombs
>could end many women's
>childbirth problems - but they also raise major ethical headaches which
>will be debated at a major
>international conference titled 'The End of Natural Motherhood?' in
>Oklahoma next week.
>
>'There are going to be real problems,' said organiser Dr Scott Gelfand, of
>Oklahoma State
>University. 'Some feminists even say artificial wombs mean men could
>eliminate women from the planet
>and still perpetuate our species. That's a bit alarmist. Nevertheless,
>this subject clearly raises
>strong feelings.'
>
>Liu's work involves removing cells from the endometrium, the lining of the
>womb. 'We have learnt how
>to grow these cells in the laboratory using hormones and growth factors,'
>she said.
>
>After this Liu and her colleagues grew layers of these cells on scaffolds
>of biodegradable material
>which had been modelled into shapes mirroring the interior of the uterus.
>The cells grew into tissue
>and the scaffold dissolved. Then nutrients and hormones such as oestrogen
>were added to the tissue.
>
>'Finally, we took embryos left over from IVF programmes and put these into
>our laboratory engineered
>tissue. The embryos attached themselves to the walls of our prototype
>wombs and began to settle
>there.'
>
>The experiments were halted after six days. However, Liu now plans to
>continue with this research
>and allow embryos to grow in the artificial wombs for 14 days, the maximum
>permitted by IVF
>legislation. 'We will then see if the embryos put down roots and veins
>into our artificial wombs'
>walls, and see if their cells differentiate into primitive organs and
>develop a primitive placenta.'
>
>The immediate aim of this work is to help women whose damaged wombs
>prevent them from conceiving. An
>artificial womb would be made from their own endometrium cells, an embryo
>placed inside it, and
>allowed to settle and grow before the whole package is placed back in her
>body.
>
>'The new womb would be made of the woman's own cells. so there would be no
>danger of organ
>rejection,' Liu added.
>
>However, her research is currently limited by IVF legislation. 'The next
>stage will involve
>experiments with mice or dogs. If that works, we shall ask to take our
>work beyond the 14-day limit
>now imposed on such research.'
>
>A different approach has been taken by Yoshinori Kuwabara at Juntendo
>University in Tokyo. His team
>has removed foetuses from goats and placed them in clear plastic tanks
>filled with amniotic fluid
>stabilised at body temperature. In this way, Kuwabara has kept goat
>foetuses alive and growing for
>up to 10 days by connecting their umbilical cords to machines that pump in
>nutrients and dispose of
>waste.
>
>While Liu's work is aimed at helping those having difficulty conceiving,
>Kuwabara's is designed to
>help women who suffer miscarriages or very premature births. In this way
>Liu is extending the time
>an embryo can exist in a laboratory before being placed in a woman's body;
>Kuwabara is trying to
>give a foetus a safe home if expelled too early from its natural womb.
>
>Crucially, both believe artificial wombs capable of sustaining a child for
>nine months will become
>reality in a few years.
>
>'Essentially research is moving towards the same goal but from opposite
>directions,' UK fertility
>expert Dr Simon Fishel, of Park Hospital, Nottingham, said. 'Getting them
>to meet in the middle will
>not be easy, however. There are so many critical stages of pregnancy, and
>so many factors to get
>right. Nevertheless, this work is very exciting.'
>
>It also has serious ethical implications, as Gelfand pointed out. 'For a
>start, there is the issue
>of abortion. A woman is usually allowed to have one on the grounds she
>wants to get rid of something
>alien inside her own body.
>
>'At present, this means killing the foetus. But if artificial wombs are
>developed, the foetus could
>be placed in one, and the woman told she has to look after it once it has
>developed into a child.'
>
>In addition, if combined with cloning technology, artificial wombs raise
>the prospect that gay
>couples could give 'birth' to their own children. 'This would no doubt
>horrify right-wingers, while
>the implications for abortion law might well please them,' he added.
>
>Gelfand also warned that artificial wombs could have unexpected
>consequences for working women and
>health insurance. 'They would mean that women would no longer need
>maternity leave - which employers
>could become increasingly reluctant to give.
>
>'It may also turn out that artificial wombs provide safer environments
>than natural wombs which can
>be invaded by drugs and alcohol from a mother's body. Health insurance
>companies could actually
>insist that women opt for the artificial way.
>
>'Certainly, this is going to raise a lot of tricky problems.'
>
>robin.mckie at observer.co.uk