A world without need for men

Guy Gudex says the technique could help men who are unable to produce sperm. Photo / Kenny Rodger

While some females would argue this has long been the case, British fertility researchers are on track to proving it, having created sperm using stem cells from an embryo.

Scientists at the Northeast England Stem Cell Institute say that with some minor adjustments, the technique could theoretically be used to fertilise an egg to create a child - taking real men out of the equation.

Within a decade, the technique may be adapted to help couples have children genetically on their own, or even for sperm to be created from female stem cells, they say.

But New Zealand experts warn that the technique is still a work in progress and have shied away from the big question of male dispensability.

Sylvia Rumball, chairwoman of the Massey University advisory committee on assisted reproductive technology, said: "I think I'll pass on that one."

Guy Gudex, medical director of Repromed Auckland, laughed and said: "Don't go there, don't even go there."

But Dr Richard Fisher, director of Fertility Associates, took a stand.

"There's no good reason why you couldn't ultimately generate a sperm-like cell from any cell in the body, so the answer to that is potentially yes."

Jokes aside, the experts said the technique was far from being used.

"I think I heard them say on the five-year horizon," said Professor Rumball, whose committee advises the Minister of Health on ongoing developments in the field.

"We tend to try to think first of all about issues associated with producing something, and then the use of that is a separate thing.

"It's got to be shown that it really can happen before we put our regulatory hats on and decide what should happen."

Dr Gudex said the technique, if proven successful, could help men unable to produce sperm. "We still don't have a way of helping men with either no sperm at all or the condition known as 'maturation arrest' [slow-maturing sperm]."

Professor Gareth Jones, an Otago University commentator on scientific and bioethical issues, said it was not just about the technical achievement.

"It is a matter of how successful will this be and what will be the problem. You've then got to say, 'Well, what genetic characteristics will the sperm have?"'

Professor Jones queried whether artificially produced sperm would have the same characteristics as true sperm: "If the answer to that was going to be yes, then perhaps you could say in the end there wouldn't be a great problem."

If sperm was ultimately produced from female cells and a man was no longer required, cloning allegations would come into play. "You're probably not going to get rid of men that quickly."

Professor Karim Nayernia, the stem cell biologist leading the UK team, admitted the sperm created were not perfect, but they had all the essential qualities for creating life. "They have heads, they have tails and they move. The shape is not quite normal, nor the movement, but they contain the proteins for egg activation."

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