Gay men will now be able to have their own biological children in a few years (Credit: http://www.stonewall.org.uk)
It will be possible for gay men to have their own biological child inside the next few years thanks to breakthrough research from the UK and Israel.
The scientists at Cambridge University and the Weizmann Institute have managed to turn the biological clock back by turning skin cells into stem cells, which in turn can be programmed to become sperm or egg cells.
This means that skin cells from a gay man could be used to produce eggs which would be fertilised with the sperm from his partner to produce a child through In Vitro Fertilisation.
This technology could also help infertile men and women, as well as women who are unable to have their own biological child because their eggs have grown too old.
The scientists state that the technology effectively re-sets the clock, so that the eggs and sperm produced are like newborns, and have not accumulated the DNA mutations that occur in the normal course of a human life.
This means that the eggs or sperms used in this way are less likely to pass on genetic mutations to potential children, the scientists state.
Click below to listen to a discussion on this, on The Morning Show with Declan Meehan on East Coast FM.
