Two father babies could become a reality

Children may be born with parents of the same sex following a breakthrough which scientists believe paves the way for “two dad” families.

Researchers from Cambridge University and Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science say they have shown for the first time that human egg and sperm cells can be made from stem cells in the skin of two adults. It raises the possibility a baby could be “manufactured” in a dish, The Sunday Times reported.

Any such technique would help infertile couples but will also raise serious ethical questions. Details of the research, funded by the Wellcome Trust, were published in the journal Cell. “We have succeeded in the first and most important step of this process, which is to show we can make these very early human stem cells in a dish,” Azim Surani, professor of physiology and reproduction, said.

Allan Pacey, an infertility expert at Sheffield University, said the research could help make sperm for men who had survived childhood cancer.

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