From the UK comes news that family trees of the future might need an extra branch.
Scientists believe they have made a potential breakthrough in the treatment of serious disease by creating a human embryo with three separate parents.
The embryos have been created using DNA from a man and two women in lab tests. [Link]
Science and law have again conspired to make the job of future genealogists harder. Rachel Cohen has received permission from an Israeli court to use her late son's semen to impregnate a woman he never met.
Mrs Cohen said that she was guided in her decision by her dead son. “An hour after being told he had been killed I took his picture and started talking to him. I asked him, ‘Where are all the children you wanted?’ then looked at the picture and heard him saying, ‘Mum, it’s not too late. There is something you can take from me’.
“Then it came to me — ‘Your sperm, that’s what you want me to take from you’. Right there, I asked the officers who came to visit to make sure his sperm be kept.” [Link]
Donor 401 is a very popular guy. He's fathered at least 25 children by 18 women, and left them begging for more.
No one knows who he is, but it's common knowledge that he tans well, has German heritage, and shares a "warm relationship with his mother." Fairfax Cryobank ran out of his DNA, but a California woman scrounged up 17 vials and offered them to satisfied customers who want their kids to be full siblings.
The woman who had the extra sperm told the mothers that she had purchased the vials from Fairfax, but then didn't need it. The vials sell for at least $175 each. "It's just incredibly generous," said Leann Mischel, the mother of two 401 babies, who is thinking about a third. [Link]
From The Times (of London, U.K.) of Nov. 22, 2005:
Sisters united thanks to father – Donor 150Good taste prevents me from making a "turkey baster" joke.
From David Charter in Washington
THIS year’s Thanksgiving dinner will have a very unusual twist for two teenage sisters in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania.
Danielle Pagano and JoEllen Marsh have never met. Nor have they ever seen the father they share. They know him only as Donor 150.
The two teenage girls belong to a new type of family model where half-siblings born from the same anonymous sperm donor to different mothers have tracked each other down using the internet.
[snip]
[Read the whole story]
From BBC News, posted Nov. 2, 2005:
Boy tracks his sperm donor father
A 15-year-old boy has tracked down his anonymous sperm donor father using a swab test and the internet.
He sent off his own cheek swab to an online genealogy DNA-testing service.
This case has serious implications for men who have donated sperm in the past with promises of anonymity, says New Scientist Magazine.
[snip]
His genetic father had never supplied his DNA to the website that the boy sent the swab to - FamilyTreeDNA.com - but two other men who were on the database had Y chromosomes that bore a close match to the boy's.
Both men had the same surname, although with different spellings.
[snip]
[Read the whole story]
Ever wish that your ancestors had left behind better written records of their lives? A proposed law in Indiana would be a godsend for future genealogists, though civil libertarians may take issue with some of the requirements placed on those seeking "assisted reproduction services":
Sec. 12. (a) Before intended parents may commence assisted reproduction, the intended parents shall obtain an assessment from a licensed child placing agency in the intended parents' state of residence.[read the legislation (PDF); Hat tip: Boing Boing]
(b) The assessment must follow the normal practice for assessments in a domestic infant adoption procedure and must include the following information:(1) The intended parents' purpose for the assisted reproduction.
(2) The fertility history of the intended parents, including the pregnancy history and response to pregnancy losses of the woman.
(3) An acknowledgment by the intended parents that the child may not be the biological child of at least one (1) of the intended parents depending on the type of artificial reproduction procedure used.
(4) A list of the intended parents' family and friend support system.
(5) A plan for sharing any known genetic information with the child.
(6) Personal information about each intended parent, including the following:(A) Family of origin.(7) Description of any children residing in the intended parents' home.
(B) Values.
(C) Relationships.
(D) Education.
(E) Employment and income.
(F) Hobbies and talents.
(G) Physical description, including the general health of the individual.
(H) Birth verification.
(I) Personality description, including the strengths and weaknesses of each intended parent.
(8) A verification and evaluation of the intended parents' marital relationship, including:(A) the shared values and interests between the individuals;(9) Documentation of the dissolution of any prior marriage and an assessment of the impact of the prior marriage on the intended parents' relationship.
(B) the manner in which conflict between the individuals is resolved; and
(C) a history of the intended parents' relationship.
(10) A description of the family lifestyle of the intended parents, include a description of individual participation in faith-based or church activities, hobbies, and other interests.
(11) The intended parents' child rearing expectations and values.
(12) A description of the home and community, including verification of the safety and security of the home.
(13) Child care plans.
(14) Statement of the assets, liabilities, investments, and ability of the intended parents to manage finances, including the most recently filed tax forms.
(15) A review of the local police records, the state and violent offender directory, and a criminal history check as set forth in subsection (c).
(16) A letter of reference by a friend or family member.
(17) A written consent from each donor, if known, to use of the donation in the assisted reproduction medical procedure.
(18) The recommendation for participation in assisted reproduction.
Peter Svensson says: "Under the proposed Indiana law, if [Mary] willingly accepted the Holy Spirit's visitation, that would be a misdemeanor:As . . . the draft of the new law reads now, an intended parent 'who knowingly or willingly participates in an artificial reproduction procedure' without court approval, 'commits unauthorized reproduction, a Class B misdemeanor.' The criminal charges will be the same for physicians who commit 'unauthorized practice of artificial reproduction.'"Presumably, if the Holy Spirit didn't give her a choice in the matter, she would have been let off. But in either case, the Holy Spirit would be charged."
