Researchers Tag Eggs and Embryos With Bar Codes, For Easy In-Vitro Fertilization

The bar code tags do not remain in the fully grown organism

By Mara Hvistendahl Posted 11.23.2010 at 3:43 pm 11 Comments

Barcoded Eggs Autonomous University of Barcelona

Critics of the selection that's often involved in assisted reproductive technology – picking a 5’10”, blond-haired, Ivy League grad egg donor, for example – say it turns conceiving a baby into a shopping exercise. It’s probably safe to venture, however, that none of the critics envisioned a day when we’d be bar-coding embryos.

That is precisely what researchers at the Autonomous University of Barcelona have done, reports New Scientist. Using cells from mouse embryos and eggs, the scientists developed a procedure that involves inserting microscopic silicon bar codes into a gap between the cell membrane and an outer membrane called the zona pellucida.

The next step is to try the technique on human embryos and eggs. That will happen soon; the Government of Catalonia health department has already approved the method for use on genetic material provided by Spanish fertility clinics.

The technique could help fertility doctors avoid mix-ups during in-vitro fertilization – such as a 2002 case in which a white couple gave birth to black twins.

Mara Hvistendahl is writing Unnatural Selection, a book on reproductive technology, sex selection, and gender imbalance.

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11 Comments

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lbln31

11/23/10 at 6:37 pm

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FrogOutOfaWell

11/23/10 at 11:59 pm

PPL hate GE and Stem cell research not because they will lead to horrific results but because of above results, productisation of living things,if this is coming then shops with different traits of already fertilized frozen eggs are not far away(just like regular poultry eggs)...

why it is bad???because it reduces the respect for life and living things,u break an egg u dont realize that u have destroyed a life not because u dont know,because u got used to it... and its normal...and offcoarse there are many more in the fridge so whats the fuzz...

why, mr. Anderson, why, why do you persist?
Because I Choose To...
Regards

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stavaros

11/24/10 at 3:02 am

Bar codes on eggs seems more like the mark of the beast these bar codes might integrate with in the living body possible tracking device

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LuckyDucky

11/24/10 at 3:16 am

Gattica!

That is all.

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alias007

11/24/10 at 10:23 am

Just a quick fyi: mark of the beast would be every man, woman and child.

As for it potentially being a tracking device, if this were an RFID tag, you'd have to be right next to the person to pick up a signal - and that's with signal strength of existing RFID. If we were to shrink it, the signal would most likely be far weaker. So you'd almost be touching them with a scanner. Besides, this gets flushed out with the placenta.

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Brian P.

11/24/10 at 3:54 pm

So are people making the assumption that this is "more" than just an efficient tracking and cataloging system for eggs? There can always be secondary uses for stuff like this but, I don't think that it's anywhere close to that now. And, to you spammers check out my website www.joemama.com.

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iraqistan

11/26/10 at 9:42 am

The year 6565 got here awful quik.