The tool is currently being tested by a group of volunteer researchers and is not yet widely available. But I hope this marks a step towards greater transparency and openness about the real costs and benefits of egg freezing. Yes, this is great technology that can help people become parents. But this may not be the best option for everyone.
More from the Tech Review archives
Anna Louis Sussman’s eggs were frozen in Italy and Spain because the services in New York were too expensive. Fortunately, there are specialized couriers willing to take frozen gametes on international trips, she wrote.
Michelle Harrison was 41 when she froze 21 of her eggs. By the time she wanted to use them, two years later, only one was viable. Although she had a child, her case shows that egg freezing is no guarantee of paternity, Bonnie Rohman wrote.
What happens if someone dies with eggs in storage? Frozen eggs and sperm can still be used to create a new life, but it’s difficult to figure out who can make the decision, as I wrote in a previous issue of The Checkup.
Meanwhile, the race is on to create laboratory eggs and sperm. These cells, which can be made from human blood or skin cells, could potentially solve many fertility problems—if they’re ever proven safe, as I wrote in an article for last year’s issue of Gender magazine.
Researchers are also working on ways to mature transgender eggs in the lab, which could allow them to store and use their eggs without having to suspend gender-confirming medical care or undergo other potentially disturbing procedures, as I wrote last year.
From all over the Internet
The World Health Organization must decide whether Covid is still a “public health emergency of international concern”. It may decide to keep that status because of the current outbreak in China. (STATITE)
Researchers want to study the brains, genes and other biological characteristics of people who are incarcerated to find ways to stop them from reoffending. Others warn that this approach is based on bad science and racist ideas. (dark)
