Preserving embryos by freezing has become commonplace in fertility treatment to allow women to attempt multiple cycles without repeatedly creating new embryos.
Now scientists have announced that a baby boy was born in May to a 42-year-old woman after being adopted as an embryo from a couple who created it 20 years ago.
Previously the oldest successful frozen embryo was 13 years old.
The couple who created the embryo had completed their own family through IVF and anonymously offered their remaining frozen embryos to other couples.
The children are all biological siblings although born 20 years apart.
In 2007 a mother froze some of her own eggs so they could be used by her then-seven-year-old daughter who was likely to be infertile because of a medical condition.
If the girl used the eggs she would effectively give birth to her own half brother or sister.
Last year a baby girl was born conceived using sperm that had been frozen 22 years earlier.
In theory the material can be kept frozen indefinitely and in Britain new laws mean embryos can be stored for 55 years.
In Britain most frozen embryos are used by the couple who created them, destroyed or donated for research. Few are offered for adoption and this is thought to be because of rules that mean offspring can trace their biological parents.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8053726/Baby-born-from-embryo-frozen-20-years-ago.html
My comment:
I think this is amazing, but humans have again raised ethical questions. Sometimes I really don’t understand what do they mean by ethics & morals. They keep mum when bad things happen to people, but they don’t have any problem in stirring up needless storms when someone badly wants to have a baby. What’s wrong with the idea of using frozen embryo as long as it brings happiness in someone’s life!
And maulana kind of people are always there to tell you this is not the will of God. Who knows maybe when we meet God, He’ll say that we didn’t have the courage to decide at the right time. And God has given us brain cells for a reason, so that we can think, weigh & consider. He didn’t give brains to just a selected few who can decide things for everyone. But unfortunately very few people think.
Of course there are pros & cons, but Science has tried to solve this problem of childless parents & this is commendable. I just can’t see it from any other angle. And I’m not saying I’m right or wrong, so lunatics don’t have to pull their hair.
