At a time when the world is still debating if the creation of three-parent babies is completely safe and ethical, there comes another mind-boggling possibility - children of any number of parents: 10, 20, 30...!
Believe it or not, scientific advances say a DNA cocktail is just a matter of time. But wait a minute. The most bizarre part of the research is that the same method - in vitro gametogenesis (IVG) - can also enable the creation of 'solo' children from one parent - giving hope for infertile adults and, of course, some egoists.
Writing in the Journal of Medical Ethics, John Harris of the University of Manchester, and two colleagues - César Palacios-González and Giuseppe Testa - contend that "multiplex parenting" is one of many exciting consequences of using stem cells to create synthetic eggs and sperm.After the discovery of induced pluripotent stem cells in 2007, theoretically any cell in the body can be created from something as simple as a skin cell. Mice have already been born from sperm and eggs created from stem cells, the online mag BioEdge reported.
Professor Harris and his colleagues believe that the day is not far off when scientists will be able to do the same with humans. Any number of parents from three upwards - of either sex - could contribute DNA to create a baby.
"By creating gametes from embryonic stem cells, it would be possible to create 20 or 30 generations of petri dish humans in as little as 10 years. So four parents might be a conservative estimate. The in vitro compression of generational time appears thus like the most transforming feature of IVG derivation," the scientists write in the paper.
Daily Mail quoted Sonia Suter, a law professor at George Washington University, as saying that babies could be used to create 'clans' of large numbers of people, linked through their shared offspring.
"Procreation in this manner troubles many people because of its significant divergence from our?understanding of reproduction as something that occurs between two people," Prof Suter writes in the Journal of Law and the Biosciences.
But she says multiplex parents could theoretically lead to a 'positive outcome' for a child as "the more adults who feel responsible for the child's wellbeing, the better off the child is likely to be". But she says confusion and conflict might arise about the roles of the many parents.
The more biological parents there are, the smaller each one's genetic link to the child. A youngster with two parents, for instance, gets 50 per cent of its genetic material from each. So a child created by four people using IVG would get 25 per cent of its DNA from each person - equivalent to the genetic share of a conventional baby's grandparents, Daily Mail said.
"For example, if 32 individuals engaged in multiplex parenting, in genetic and generational terms they would be like great-great-great-grandparents to the child," says Prof Suter. This is because a child conceived conventionally has 32 great-great-great-grandparents.
She says: "Thirty-two adults simply cannot all have the kind of intimate relationship that is central to social parenting . as the number of intended parents increases, the social connections inevitably thin and intimacy diminishes, making multiplex reproduction more like the creation of clans."
There are many potential uses. Prof Harris and his colleagues say the first four are familiar from the world of IVF: men who cannot produce viable sperm; women with premature menopause; people who have lost gonads or their fertility due to cancer treatment; and people who have been involuntarily sterilised.
"Many clients for such a service would be same sex couples who could have children who are genetically related to them both. There is nothing morally wrong with same-sex competent caring people using IVG for satisfying their legitimate interests in becoming genetic parents of their children," the scientists said.
Another potential use would be "single individuals, who may wish to reproduce without partner and without resorting to gamete donation".
"We might worry that only egoism and selfishness would motivate a single person to reproduce with just his or her gametes," comments Prof Suter on the solo baby concept.
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