We Can Now Use Cells from Dead People to Create New Life. But Who Gets to Decide?

November 29, 2022

(MIT Technology Review) – Peter Zhu was just 19 years old when he died following a skiing accident in West Point, New York. His donor card made clear he had wanted to donate his organs. But his parents wanted to collect his sperm, too. His parents told a court that they wanted to keep the possibility of using the sperm to eventually have children that would be genetically related to Peter. The court approved their wishes, and Peter’s sperm was retrieved from his body and stored in a local sperm bank. We have the technology to use sperm, and potentially eggs, from dead people to make embryos, and eventually babies. (Read More)