ARTIFICIAL sperm and eggs created from stem cells in the laboratory could be used in fertility treatment under proposals to be put forward in the House of Lords tomorrow.

The plan would not by itself allow scientists to create the eggs and sperm, known collectively as gametes. But it would enable parliament to legalise the practice by a simple vote once the technology became available, without the need for a new law.

The proposal, to be introduced by Lord Patel, an independent peer and former president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, is expected to provoke sharp debate in parliament.

It will receive widespread support from scientists and fertility clinics, which believe the creation of sperm from cells, including from bone marrow, will give men made infertile by cancer treatment the chance to have children.

But the initiative will be sharply resisted by Christian groups, which think that the creation of gametes from stem cells is dangerous and unethical.

Other controversial amendments being tabled to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill include one that would ban late abortion for disability.

The current bill bans the use of artificial gametes in humans.

But peers, backed by the British Medical Association, are now trying to reinstate the proposal by amending it.

Experts believe that within 10 years the technology may be sufficiently advanced to allow clinical trials in humans.

Several research groups in Britain are doing work in the field, including that led by Professor Karim Nayernia of Newcastle University, who derived sperm from embryonic mouse stem cells and used it to fertilise mouse eggs.

Additional reporting: Anna Mikhailova

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