Dutch fertility doctor secretly used his own sperm to father 49 children

DutchNews, April 12, 2019

The owner of a fertility clinic used his own sperm to father 49 children, according to DNA tests revealed on Friday. 

Jan Karbaat died in 2017, and after his death dozens of people came forward to say that they suspected that he had used his own sperm to impregnate their mothers, without their knowledge. 

A court case gave permission for materials containing his DNA to be collected and then the 49 Dutch people fought for the right to test their own DNA against these samples. 

Tim Bueters, lawyer for the group, has said that he is happy that an end has come to their uncertainty, reports the NOS . 

The doctor, who had a clinic in Barendrecht, had recognised 22 children.

Chinese hospital denies approving gene-edited babies experiment

Yahoo – News, 27 November 2018

A group of 122 Chinese scientists have signed a joint statement condemning
the experiment as 'crazy'

The Chinese hospital linked to a controversial experiment purporting to have created the world's first genetically-edited babies denied its involvement Tuesday.

Shenzhen Harmonicare Women and Children's Hospital said in a statement that it suspected the signature on a document approving the experiment, specifically its adherence to ethical standards, was falsified.

It has also asked police to investigate.

"We have always firmly opposed the development of genetic experiments that violate human ethics and morality," the hospital said on its website.

The experiment, which was led by Chinese professor He Jiankui, claims to have altered the DNA of twin girls born a few weeks ago to prevent them from contracting HIV, and has prompted a heated debate among the scientific community.

Some warned that exposing healthy embryos and children to gene editing was irresponsible, while others denounced He's experiment as premature and dangerous.

Chinese scientists and institutions have also criticised the experiment, with 100 scientists in China issuing a joint statement calling for better state legislation.

"It is a great blow to the global reputation and development of biomedical research in China," said the statement posted on the Twitter-like platform Weibo.

The university where He works has also distanced itself from the scientist's experiment.

"This research work was carried out by Professor He Jiankui outside of the school," the Southern University of Science and Technology said in a statement Monday.

He has been on unpaid leave since February and his research is a "serious violation of academic ethics and norms", it said.

The Shenzhen Harmonicare Women and Children's Hospital too has denied any involvement with He.

In interviews with Chinese media, Cheng Zhen, the general manager of the hospital, said the hospital had not partnered with He, and that he had never even met the man before.

He's experiment -- if it had been carried out -- is prohibited under Chinese laws and regulations, according to state media CCTV in a report citing remarks at a Tuesday event by the deputy minister of China's Ministry of Science and Technology, Xu Nanping.

Specifically, Chinese laws limit in vitro human embryonic stem cell research to a maximum of 14 days, said Xu.

#UPDATE The Chinese hospital linked to a controversial experiment purporting to have created the world's first genetically-edited babies has denied its involvement. https://t.co/pvybblDOCm #CRISPR #geneediting pic.twitter.com/nj8GwQA60X

— AFP news agency (@AFP) November 27, 2018

Dutch clinics open door to gay couple parenthood via IVF

DutchNews, November 13, 2018

Photo: Depositphotos.com

Gay men who want to become fathers will no longer have to travel abroad to use IVF services via a surrogate mother, television current affairs show De Monitor said on Tuesday. 

At least two IVF clinics are to start offering services to gay couples next year, the programme said. One in Leiderdorp will help fertilising a surrogate mother’s own eggs while a second, in Elsendorp, will allow couples to provide an egg from a sister or other family member for a better genetic match. 

A fertility centre in Zwolle and the VU teaching hospital in Amsterdam are also considering offering IVF treatment to gay couples with a surrogate. The VU is the only Dutch hospital where heterosexual couples can try for a test-tube baby via a surrogate. 

‘This is a major step forward. This news means gay couples can become parents and gives surrogates the support of gynaecologists,’ said Luc Nibbeling, of the foundation Meer dan Gewenst, which supports gay parents. 

Every year, several dozen gay couples approach doctors about becoming parents, gynaecologist Annemiek Nap told the programme.

Dutch to extend IVF age deadline to 50

DutchNews, September 29, 2016

Women up to the age of 50 will soon be eligible for IVF fertility treatments in the Netherlands, if their eggs were harvested before they reached the age of 43. 

The current age limit is 45 but health minister Edith Schippers has told MPs this can be extended, in line with advice from the Dutch obstetrics association NVOG.

‘We are extremely happy about this move,’ the association told RTL Nieuws. ‘We will now be able to treat women who are unable to become pregnant for whatever reason up to a later age.’ Every case will have to be assessed on the basis of risk, the NVOG said. 

Nevertheless, women should not delay becoming mothers without good reason, the organisation said. ‘The older you get, the less likely you are to become pregnant. If a woman is ready, she should not delay.’

First Dutch donor egg baby born

DutchNews, August 25, 2015

The first woman in the Netherlands to undergo egg donation locally has given birth to a healthy daughter, the Leiderdorp fertility clinic MCK said on Monday.

The clinic started allocating eggs last year and was the first in the country to offer the service to infertile women. A number of other woman are also pregnant, the clinic said, but did not give further details. 

The Amsterdam and Utrecht teaching hospitals are also now offering egg donation services. Previously, Dutch women who wanted a donor egg had to go abroad for treatment. 

According to news agency ANP, the treatment at the MCK costs €2,400 for four eggs.

German woman, 65 and mother of 13, has quadruplets

Yahoo – AFP, Yannick Pasquet, 23 may 2015

The three boys and one girl were born premature at 26 weeks in a Berlin

hospital (AFP Photo/Fred Dufour)

Berlin (AFP) - A 65-year-old German woman, who already has 13 children, has given birth to quadruplets after undergoing an artificial insemination procedure in Ukraine, RTL television reported early on Saturday.

Annegret Raunigk had three boys, named Dries, Bence and Fjonn, and one girl, Neeta, who were born premature at 26 weeks in a Berlin hospital but have "good chances of surviving," according to RTL.

"However, the babies, in comparison with a normal birth in the 40th week, are not completely developed, so eventual complications can't be ruled out," said the report.

Their mother lives in Berlin and is an English and Russian teacher who is close to retirement. In addition to her children, she is grandmother to seven.

RTL said the new arrivals make her the world's oldest mother of quadruplets.

She became pregnant after undergoing several artificial insemination procedures in Ukraine, said RTL.

The channel has negotiated exclusive rights to the story and has followed the build-up to the births, although it says no filming was done in the hospital where the babies were born.

Raunigk made headlines in April when the German press first reported that her latest artificial insemination attempt had resulted in a quadruple pregnancy.

At the time, she said she decided to try to have another child because her youngest daughter, who is nine, wanted a little brother or sister, according to RTL.

Oldest daughter is 44

The Bild am Sonntag tabloid quoted Raunigk, whose oldest daughter is 44, recalling that it was "a shock" when the doctors first broke the news to her that she was expecting quadruplets.

"After the doctor discovered there were four, I had to give it some thought to begin with."

This photo taken in 2005 shows then 55-year-old Annegret Raunigk (1st row, 2ndL)

 with her children and grand-children being interviewed on Germany's RTL television

channel (AFP Photo/Jörg Carstensen)

But she did not consider reducing the number of embryos and said she had no reservations about the challenge facing her.

"I'm not actually afraid. I simply assume I'll remain healthy and fit. In matters of organisation I have enough experience, that's not new for me," she was quoted as saying in Bild.

Asked about moral doubts, RTL quoted her as asking: "How does one have to be at 65? One must apparently always fit some cliches which I find rather tiring.

"I think, one must decide that for oneself."

Raunigk made headlines 10 years ago too, when she gave birth to her 13th child, Lelia, at the age of 55.

That pregnancy was also the subject of an exclusive coverage deal with RTL, and Bild.

"At first, I only wanted one child," the tabloid quoted her as saying at the time. "Not all were planned. But then things happen. I'm not a planner but rather spontaneous. And children keep me young."

During an interview in April, Raunigk dismissed critics who said she was acting irresponsibly because she would be more than 70 years old when the quadruplets entered school.

"You can never know what will happen. Things can also happen to you when you're 20," she said, adding that it's up to each individual to decide when they become a parent.

Related Article:

Kryon Q&A

Question: Dear Lee/Kryon: In my psychotherapy practice, I am specializing in menopause and other women's life transition issues. I am trying to frame menopause as a step within the spiritual evolutionary process, perhaps even part of the female response to ascension. Can you help me with an explanation of what the process of menses means for my clients? And how is it that females seem to undergo this "reverse puberty" process in a more dramatic way than men do?

Answer: Again we say to you that you must remove the biological from the spiritual. Look at what the body does. It is geared to stop the engine of procreation so that the female will not be harmed. That's why it occurs at all. It is an engine of appropriateness related to age. It's also an old paradigm, however, since we teach that you can extend your life-span, and that also means bearing children longer with safety, if that is part of your life plan.

For a male, the evolutionary process is one where, since he does not give birth, his biology is not one that goes through anything in the birth process. Therefore age is unimportant to his health when it comes to producing the seeds, which he can do almost until death.

So the body is protecting the females from undue stress, and even from premature death - going through childbirth when the chemistry is not up to it. This should be seen as a blessing, and one that is honored.

However, now we tell you something that is more along the lines of your question. In females, sometimes the process isn't stopped for biological reasons at all, but spiritual ones! In males, sometimes the hormones of desire and performance are also seemingly prematurely stopped. Ever wonder why this might happen?

The reason? Sometimes shamans need to have some of the common distractions of earth eliminated so that their concentration can be focused more clearly on spiritual matters. Don't read anything into this. It's different for every Human Being, so there is no generality here. But you should know that this is often part of the process of "relief from the distraction of things that are no longer needed," given for spiritual enlightenment. Not for all, but for many. This is often why you perceive elders to be wiser. They don't have that set of very complex and demanding chemicals surging through their body, either giving them pain with each cycle, or the pain of desire without fulfillment, which has its own attributes of psychological frustration and distraction.

For the females: Think of these things as all related. What is it you need? Do you give permission for it? Is it appropriate in your contract? Then when it comes, talk to your cellular structure and replace the chemistry that needs to be there for your energy, and say good-bye to that which is leaving. Give ceremony around it. You may do all of this naturally, talking to your cells. They will respond, and create what is missing.

This is the new Human Being, taking control of their bodies, and speaking directly to their cells. Creating tissue and chemistry naturally, since the cellular structure of your body is "listening" to what you need, and is far more capable than any scientist has ever told you.

And this is the truth.

57-year-old Chinese woman has twins after death of adult son

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2015-03-10

Wu Muxiang, front, and her husband. (Internet photo)

A Chinese couple now in their late 50s spent their life savings on fertility treatment and have successfully given birth to a pair of twins, reports Hong Kong's Wen Wei Po newspaper.

Wu Muxiang, now 57, and her husband were devastated when their only child, a son, died of a cerebral embolism aged 26, eight months before his wedding.

"My children are my life," said Wu, who has recently been released from the hospital after giving birth the a pair of twins, a boy and a girl. It took the couple nine attempts at IVF and all their savings to get to this point.

Their effort did not go without challenges. The twins arrived almost nine weeks before they were due and were placed in an intensive care unit immediately after birth. They are now doing well.

"All I wish everyday now is to see my children during visiting hours," Wu said.

Indian woman has twins despite discovery she is mostly male

Yahoo – AFP, 9 Feb 2015

An Indian "woman" who discovered she had mostly male chromosomes underwent
more than 12 months of hormonal and other medical treatment to allow her to
eventually give birth to healthy twins (AFP Photo/Brendan Smialowski)

New Delhi (AFP) - An Indian woman who discovered she had mostly male chromosomes has given birth to healthy twins after intensive treatment in what doctors said Monday was the "rarest of rare cases".

The 32-year-old had an intersex condition in which she had the physical appearance of a woman but had more than 95 percent XY chromosomes, fertility specialist Sunil Jindal told AFP.

The woman underwent more than 12 months of hormonal and other medical treatment to develop her "infantile uterus" to allow her to eventually carry and give birth on Friday to a boy and girl.

"This is akin to a male delivering twins," said Jindal by phone from Meerut city, some 70 kilometres (43 miles) northeast of New Delhi.

"She did not undergo puberty and never menstruated. When we investigated further we found that she had a very small vagina and an infantile uterus."

Jindal said his team of doctors discovered during their research that there had only ever been five reported cases of such pregnancies in the world.

"It's nothing short of a medical miracle. We are really happy that we could pull it off."

He said the woman was startled to learn she had the condition, but was determined to undergo the treatment to get pregnant.

"Even she did not know she had this condition and was flabbergasted when we told her about it. But the husband was very supportive and told her 'no matter what you continue to be my wife'," he said.

Her husband's sperm was used to fertilise a donor egg which was then implanted in the woman's now developed uterus.

The babies were born through caesarean section, weighing 2.25 kilos (4.9 pounds) and 2.50 kilos (5.5 pounds) each.

Britain authorises 'three-parent' babies

Yahoo – AFP, Dario Thuburn, 3 Feb 2015

As well as receiving DNA from its mother and father, an embryo would also
include a small amount of healthy so-called mDNA from a woman donor

Lawmakers at the House Commons voted by 382 to 128 in favour of allowing the creation of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) babies with DNA from three people, a move aimed at preventing serious inherited diseases being passed on from mother to child.

Under the change to the laws on IVF, as well as receiving the usual "nuclear" DNA from its mother and father, the embryo would also include a small amount of healthy so-called mDNA from a woman donor.

Lawmakers at the House Commons voted
by 382 to 128 in favour of allowing the
creation of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF)
babies with DNA from three people

"Families who know what it is like to care for a child with a devastating disease are best placed to decide whether mitochondrial donation is the right option for them," said Jeremy Farrar, director of health charity Wellcome Trust.

"We welcome this vote to give them that choice."

The bill is expected to be rubber-stamped by the House of Lords, the upper chamber of parliament, later this month, paving way for the procedure to begin next year.

The change could apply to up to 2,500 women of reproductive age in Britain with hereditary mitochondrial diseases but opponents say it opens the way to the possibility of "designer babies" in future.

Mitochondrial DNA (mDNA) is passed through the mother and mitochondrial diseases cause symptoms ranging from poor vision to diabetes and muscle wasting.

Mitochondria are structures in cells which generate the energy that allows the human body to function.

Health officials estimate around 125 babies are born with the mutations in Britain every year.

'Invaluable choice'

The law will allow Britain's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to authorise the procedure and a pioneering research centre in Newcastle is expected to be the first where it would take place.

Genetic disease charities celebrated the historic vote.

"We have finally reached a milestone in giving women an invaluable choice, the choice to become a mother without fear of passing on a lifetime under the shadow of mitochondrial disease to their child," said Robert Meadowcroft, Chief Executive of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign.

John Tooke, President of the Academy of Medical Sciences, said he was "delighted" by the vote.

"These treatments could reduce the number of children born with rare mitochondrial diseases, and help dozens of families to lead happy and healthy lives.

"Today's vote is the culmination of many years of scientific and public debate."

'Destructive manipulation'

But many Britons are still against the proposed change despite years of consultation by health authorities with the public and the scientific community.

A poll by the ComRes market research agency in the run-up to the vote showed only 20 percent of respondents in favour of the change and 41 percent against, while 39 percent said they had no view either way or did not know.

Britain on Tuesday became the first
country in the world to allow the creation
 of babies with DNA from three people
 after MPs voted for the controversial
procedure.

Opponents include scientists and religious leaders.

David King, director of the watchdog group Human Genetics Alert, said: "If we want to avoid the nightmare designer baby future we must draw the line here."

Josephine Quintavalle from the pro-life organisation Comment on Reproductive Ethics said there should be more focus on finding cures "which do not rely on destructive manipulation of early human life".

The Roman Catholic Church is firmly opposed to the move, pointing out that it would involve the destruction of human embryos as part of the process.

The Church of England has also said that ethical concerns "have not been sufficiently explored".

There is also concern on purely scientific grounds.

Justin St John from the Centre for Genetic Diseases at Monash University in Australia said the new IVF techniques required "further validation".

"It is essential to analyse offspring to determine that no abnormalities appear at least during early life," he said in a statement last week.

Related Articles:

Tears as MPs’ vote ends long wait for breakthrough on mitochondrial disease
Detailed map of genome function


"DNA REVEALED" - Mar 13, 2010 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

“…  Biology and Intent

Let's talk more about biology because now it gets a little more complex. There is an intermingling of the 3D and the quantum that we wish to describe to you now. It's something that is new, for the vibration of this planet and of humanity, especially of those who are working with the light, is creating a new tool set. You're going to start to see it and it's going to be visible through examination of the 3D chemistry of DNA, even at the 3D level.

Science is now looking at what they call markers in the protein-encoded DNA, which creates the Human genes. These markers, as they are described by science, are those that are the pieces and parts that would indicate predispositions - attributes that might weaken certain cells so that later in life they would allow disease, such as cancer. They're starting to see these markers, perhaps in certain families where mothers and daughters and their daughters and their daughters all had the same kind of disease. They're starting to see the genetic markers that create predisposed weakness.

Let's talk about the markers, for this is the first time we have disclosed this. First the premise: For years we have told you that your intent to talk to your cellular structure has power. This intent is your communication to the DNA field to alter something within the 3D cellular structure. You might say it's your own interdimensional "voice" giving instructions to the quantum part of your DNA, which then results in the actual chemical changes that are occurring in the codes within your 3D genome. But now the results are going to be seen, and you can begin by removing the markers, and when you do, they stay removed. This means that something quantum you do today can change the chemistry of your gene-producing DNA so greatly that it will NOT be passed to your children. You can break the chain.

Blessed are the Human Beings who realize that as they purify their lives with the light of the Creator, it will affect the biology of the protein-encoded parts. You can erase the markers. It's one of the first times that the 3D has intermingled with the quantum so that science can someday look at the same Human Being over time, knowing that DNA never changes... yet it did! It's yours and it's unique and you changed it. There will be no answer for them, but the 3D facts will show it, that you eliminated the marker.

The joy of this and the beauty of this is that the lineage of the young women who do this will be shown, for their daughters will not have the disease, nor will the daughters of their daughters. It's a new gift and reflects the power of the times. Can you really change those who are your children-to-be? Indeed!

I know what you are thinking. The crowd who sits here says, "Well, it's a little late, Kryon. I've had my children. So why do you sit here and tell me these things?" Are you not understanding where this message is going? Are you not understanding the profundity of what happens when old souls allow us to give this information to Earth? Do you not understand your energy has generated the allotment of allowance for us to come in today and give you this, so that young women and young men who are Lightworkers each will hear it and know what it means to them? Do you understand you're your own ancestors? Has this occurred to you? I see you as actual history, sitting in the chair, from all over the world! That's what I wanted to tell you today.

You don't each have one name to me. I don't even see the gender that you are. I see you in a quantum state and that's why it's so profound that you would let us come in and visit you in this fashion. The woman sits in the chair in front of me. She has no idea the warrior she's been, or how big she was when she was a man. Yet she carries around with her the feeling of the warrior and she knows she's strong. I look at the big, burly man and I see the mother toiling with all those children and the man knows it. He can feel it. He's sensitive and can actually feel the love of a mother. Who is it he used to be? And how has it affected him today?

Old soul, it's affected you today because every single lifetime gives you layer upon layer of wisdom. It has brought you to the chair today or reading this today. For this is the lifetime where you have awakened and realized there is more, a lot more. It brings you as a seeker to a place where you can say, "What can I do for myself and the earth?"

I'll tell you what you can do. You can become compassionate on this planet. You can walk around and show your light on this planet. You can change the markers in your own DNA! Think of who's listening to this message and what it might mean to their children and their children's children. These are the tools we spoke of so long ago, and the proof will come down the line of the reality of this message.

All of this that I have told you today is correct and real, and will be seen naturally in its own way. But I wanted you to know the sacredness that is here within a structure you thought was only chemical based. DNA is far larger and more sacred than anyone has ever imagined.

So what are you going to do with this information? Why don't you walk out of this place different than you came in, feeling a little more enabled? Perhaps you will feel a little better about the possibilities before you? Perhaps you might even know that what happened today is real.

And so it is.

KRYON

Egg freezing: controversial new benefit in the US workplace

Yahoo – AFP, Fabienne Faur, 19 Oct 2014

Free meals, four months of maternity leave and now egg-freezing: Facebook's

 latest gift to its employees has rekindled debate on the role of women in the

company (AFP Photo/Emmanuel Dunand)

Washington (AFP) - Free meals, four months of maternity leave and now egg-freezing: Facebook's latest gift to its employees has rekindled debate on the role of women in the company.

The move aims to at the very least show that "we have a lot of work to do to help companies really understand what they need to do," said Carolyn Leighton, who founded WITI, a network of women working in the tech sector.

As for paying to have eggs frozen -- which allows women to put off having children -- she dismissed the idea as "ridiculous."

"My phone has been ringing off the hook with women who found it insulting," Leighton said.

"They felt they were just trying to deflect the conversation about equal pay for women," she said, recalling that in the United States, a woman doing the same job as a man earns 77 percent what he does.

That is apparently not the goal of Facebook, known among companies in Silicon Valley for its groundbreaking ideas on personnel management, in offering this coverage up to $20,000.

"We take care of all our employees and the people who matter most to them," said a Facebook spokesman, outlining the company's health care benefits.

There is no universal, government-funded health care program in the United States, and most Americans get their health care from their employer.

At Facebook, the benefits include fertility treatment, surrogate mothers for homosexual couples and sperm bank access. This is all on top of three free meals a day at the office, a medical care in situ and a car wash.

'Generous' maternity leave'

"We don't have women-specific benefits. We have benefits for people at Facebook," the spokesman said, insisting that the four-month maternity leave is quite generous in a country where much shorter periods are often granted.

Apple, which will start paying for egg freezing in January, said it wanted to give its workers the power to make their lives productive as they take care of their loved ones and raise their children.

Apple, which will start paying for egg freezing in January, said it wanted to give

 its workers the power to make their lives productive as they take care of their

loved ones and raise their children (AFP Photo/Timothy A. Clary)

"Surely what they meant to say was, 'We want women at Apple to spend more of their lives working for us without a family to distract them,'" Jessica Cussins of the Center for Genetics and Society wrote in a Huffington Post editorial.

But Chavi Eve Karkowsky, an obstetrician in New York, wrote in the online magazine Slate that when it comes to delayed child bearing, "the two factors that come up again and again are financial stability and the availability of an appropriate partner."

Of the second factor, she added "this is the one that I think creates the egg-freezing push."

The procedure that was once mostly used by people with cancer is not harmless and its results not guaranteed.

The debate has rekindled the controversy over women in the workplace, a key issue for the women's liberation movement.

A week ago, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was forced to apologize after advising women to trust their "karma" rather than be assertive and ask for a raise.

Last year, Facebook's chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg published "Lean In," a memoir presented as a modern feminist manifest in which she urged women to work to succeed in juggling their careers and family life.

Women make up 50.8 percent of the US population and 47 percent of the workforce. But they account for only 16.6 percent of senior positions in the workplace and 8.1 percent of the highest paying jobs, according to the Center for American Progress.

World first: Woman has baby after womb transplant: Lancet

Yahoo – AFP, Oct 4, 2014

A handout picture released by 'The Lancet' on October 4, 2014, shows a baby

boy, born last month at the University of Gothenburg's hospital (AFP Photo)

Paris (AFP) - A 36-year-old Swede has become the world's first woman to give birth after receiving a womb transplant, doctors said Saturday, describing the event as a breakthrough for infertile women.

"It was breathtaking. I think all of us felt that," surgeon Liza Johannesson said in a video supplied by her university. "It was like having your own child, actually, it was the same feeling. No one could really believe it."

The healthy baby boy was born last month at the University of Gothenburg's hospital. Both mother and infant are doing well.

The recipient underwent in-vitro fertilisation,

in which eggs were harvested from her

ovaries and fertilised, and then cryogenically

preserved (AFP Photo/Anne-Christine

 Poujoulat)

Weighing 1.775 kilos (3.9 pounds), the baby was born by Caesarean section at 31 weeks after the mother developed pre-eclampsia, a pregnancy condition, according to the medical journal The Lancet.

Because of a genetic condition called Rokitansky syndrome, the new mother was born without a womb, although her ovaries were intact.

The surgeons said the exploit smashes through the last major barrier of female infertility -- the absence of a uterus as a result of heredity or surgical removal for medical reasons.

"Absolute uterine factor infertility is the only major type of female infertility that is still viewed as untreatable," they said in a paper published by the British journal.

The replacement organ came from a 61-year-old woman, a close family friend who had been through menopause seven years earlier. The organ was transplanted in a 10-hour operation last year.

The recipient underwent in-vitro fertilisation, in which eggs were harvested from her ovaries and fertilised using sperm from her partner, and then cryogenically preserved.

A year after the transplant, a single early-stage embryo was inserted into the transplanted womb. A pregnancy test three weeks later was positive.

The womb encountered a brief episode of rejection, but this was successfully tackled by increasing a dose of corticosteroid drugs to suppress the immune system.

A decade of research

"Our success is based on more than 10 years of intensive animal research and surgical training by our team and opens up the possibility of treating many young females worldwide that suffer from uterine infertility," the Lancet quoted Professor Matts Braennstroem of the University of Gothenburg, who led the operation, as saying.

"What is more, we have demonstrated the feasibility of live-donor uterus transplantation, even from a post-menopausal donor."

Rokitansky syndrome -- Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuester-Hauser syndrome to give it its full name -- affects approximately one in 4,500 newborn girls, previous research has found.

The options open to women with this disorder, or who have had a hysterectomy, are adoption or having a baby through a surrogate mother.

A picture taken on September 18, 2012 shows

 Doctor Mats Braennstroem (C) during a press

 conference about the first uterus transplant at

 the Sahlgreska hospital in Gothenburg, Sweden

(AFP Photo/Adam Ihse)

But surrogacy is not allowed in many countries for ethical, legal or religious reasons.

"It gives hope to those women, and men also of course, that thought they would never have a child, that thought they were out of hope," Johannesson said.

"This project really shows that it's possible to never give up."

The unnamed Swede was one of nine who received a uterus from live donors under Braennstroem's programme.

Two of them had to undergo hysterectomies within a few months, either because the womb became infected or blood flow to it became clotted, the paper said.

The other seven women began menstruation during the first two to three months, and the transplanted organs remained viable during the first year after the operation.

Two other transplant attempts have been reported elsewhere, but neither resulted in a live birth.

The first, carried out in Saudi Arabia in 2000, ended in failure after three months when the uterus became necrotic and had to be removed.

The second, carried out in Turkey in 2011, entailed a uterus that was transplanted from a deceased donor, resulting in pregnancies that miscarried within six weeks.

Interpol investigates 'baby factory' as man fathers 16 surrogate children

Lawyer for Mitsutoki Shigeta, 24, says the businessman simply wants a large family and has the means to support it

theguardian.com, Kevin Rawlinson and agencies, Saturday 23 August 2014

Thai police display pictures of the surrogate babies during a press conference
at the police headquarters in Chonburi, Thailand. Photograph: Sakchai Lalit/AP

Interpol has launched an investigation into an alleged "baby factory" after it emerged that a Japanese businessman had fathered 16 surrogate children and expressed a desire for many more.

Police raided a home in Bangkok earlier this month, finding nine babies with nine nannies. Mitsutoki Shigeta, 24, has been identified as the father of each of them, as well as seven more. Authorities are looking into his motives, which he says are benign.

The children were apparently housed in unfurnished rooms filled with baby bottles, bouncy chairs, playpens and nappies, according to Thai police.

"What I can tell you so far is that I've never seen a case like this," Thailand's Interpol director, police Maj Gen Apichart Suribunya, said on Friday.

According to the Associated Press (AP), he added: "We are trying to understand what kind of person makes this many babies." The investigation will centre on Japan, Cambodia, Hong Kong and India.

"We are looking into two motives. One is human trafficking and the other is exploitation of children," said police Lit Gen Kokiat Wongvorachart, Thailand's lead investigator in the case.

He said Shigeta had made 41 trips to Thailand since 2010. On many occasions he travelled to nearby Cambodia, where he brought four of his babies.

The founder of the New Life clinic, a multinational fertility clinic that provided Shigeta with two surrogate mothers, said she warned Interpol about him even before the first baby was born in June 2013, the agency reported.

"As soon as they got pregnant, he requested more. He said he wanted 10 to 15 babies a year, and that he wanted to continue the baby-making process until he's dead," said Mariam Kukunashvili.

She told the AP, Shigeta also asked about equipment to freeze his sperm to have sufficient supply when he was older.

And she said he told the clinic's manager that "he wanted to win elections and could use his big family for voting", and that "the best thing I can do for the world is to leave many children".

Kukunashvili, who is based at the company's headquarters in the country of Georgia, said she never met Shigeta but received reports from her Thai staff. The clinic is based in Thailand and six other countries.

She said she also emailed Shigeta, whose then lawyer responded to say he was involved in "no dishonesty, no illegal activities". He has not been charged with any crime and, according to reports, is trying to get his children back.

The 12 in Thailand are being cared for by social services and he has proven through DNA samples sent from Japan that he is their biological father.

He quickly left Thailand after the raid on his condominium on 5 August and has said through a lawyer that he simply wanted a large family and has the means to support it, AP reported.

Thai police said Shigeta hired 11 Thai surrogate mothers to carry his children, including four sets of twins. Police have not determined the biological mothers, Kokiat said.

The case came to light after a tip-off that followed allegations that an Australian couple abandoned a surrogate baby after learning it had Down's syndrome. The couple deny the accusation.

During the raid on the property, Shigeta's former lawyer Ratpratan Tulatorn insisted his client had done nothing wrong.

"These are legal babies, they all have birth certificates," Ratpratan told Thailand's Channel 3 television station. "There are assets purchased under these babies' names. There are savings accounts for these babies, and investments. If he were to sell these babies, why would he give them these benefits?"

Related Articles:

Thailand vows 'leniency' in surrogacy cases

Gammy: Australian parents wanted a refund and would have aborted him