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Controversial Company Offers a New Way To Make a Baby (sciencemag.org)
sciencehabit writes: A controversial fertility company called OvaScience is preoccupied by an enduring mystery in human biology--why eggs fail--and the palpable hope that we can do something about it. The company offers a new treatment, called AUGMENT, based on what it considers to be egg precursor cells found in a woman's ovaries. AUGMENT, which costs UP TO $25,000, along with thousands more in clinic fees and roughly $25,000 for the IVF cycle that must accompany it, relies on mitochondria from putative egg precursor cells to boost the success of in vitro fertilization (IVF). Seventeen babies have been born so far. The company, which has attracted hundreds of millions of dollars from investors, is poised to introduce a second treatment. But many scientists doubt that egg precursor cells actually exist.
Hush! Why do you want more fertile people, this planet is overpopulated as it is!
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
It's disputed that it works, but 17 babies have been created by this procedure so far.
No. 17 babies have been created by IVF. Whether it would have worked without AUGMENT is at debate.
So, does it work or doesn't it?
Yes, that's the question
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
In the places where people can afford a procedure like this, there is no overpopulation problem. Every couple deserves a fair shot at parenthood.
The perfect scam, we take your egg, perform some woogie that you can't see or verify, but trust us, it works.
Who is going to pay for the fair shot of those that can't throw 50 grand at it?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.