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Researchers have turned embryonic stem cells in mice into sperm, making it conceivable that by implanting the sperm into eggs the resulting embryo could develop from the cells of people of the same sex, according to the Telegraph in the UK.

"What we would really like to know is, will these cells … that we formed in the dish, actually sustain the development of an embryo," Dr George Daley, a stem cell biologist, told Reuters.

If the process is normal, "then it opens up possibilities for novel forms of reproductive biology," said Daley who co-authored the study done by the Children's Hospital Boston/Harvard Medical School and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. Daley is now trying to determine if the procedure would work with human cells.

Though researchers have developed female eggs from stem cells, according to another press release, they have not been capable of being fertilized.

In a statement, Daley said their work may shed light on birth defects. "Germ cells are given the responsibility for perpetuating the species, and understanding how germ-cell formation goes awry may teach us about early developmental defects, as well as some forms of male infertility," he says. "Our research is aimed at understanding normal and pathologic tissue formation, and not so much at futuristic means of assisted reproduction."

Not in Italy

If researchers try to pull that off in Italy, they'd better turn to a married couple. According to a Reuters story in today's Chicago Tribune and elsewhere, "Italy's Senate approved a law on reproductive rights Thursday that bans the use of donor sperm, eggs or surrogate mothers and restricts assisted fertilization to 'stable' heterosexual couples."

The story notes Italy's heavy Roman Catholic influence in the law's broad support. According to the bill only infertile couples who are married or can prove they have a stable relationship are allowed to seek reproduction assistance. Additionally, they cannot use the sperm or eggs of donors or use surrogate mothers.

In addition, embryos resulting from artificial insemination may not be frozen (possibly to prevent a similar situation to the U.S. where 400,000 embryos are on ice) or used in research. It also limits the amount of embryos implanted in the mother's womb.

"This law says 'Enough!' to the abuses and recognizes that an embryo is a person and as such must be protected from the point of conception," said Elisabetta Alberti Casellati, a senator from [Prime Minister Silvio] Berlusconi's Forza Italia party. Those opposed to the law complained that it paved the way for an attack on abortion.

If Italian gay couples want to settle down and raise their own family but feel persecuted in their own country, Australia is offering them refugee status.

Life ethics:

• Effort to ban human cloning will resume | Bush administration, allies will pursue U.N. vote despite diplomatic setback (The Washington Post)
  
  
• Poll: Many oppose Fla. tube-feeding law | Nearly two-thirds of Florida voters oppose the hastily passed state law that required that a brain-damaged woman's feeding tube be reinserted over the objections of her husband, according to a new poll released Sunday (Associated Press)
  
  
• Baby's tragic death 'god's will' | The parents of a Northland baby who died from a kidney infection believe their eighth child died as the result of "God's will". (Stuff.co.nz, New Zealand)
  
  
• Cheating death | Kari Christianson came within a minute of death Monday, says her father, Ritchie. "She had stopped breathing and had no pulse. There was no time for an ambulance." (Burnett County Sentinel, Wisconsin)
  
  

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December (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47