RFID Being Considered for In Vitro Fertilization

Filed in archive Healthcare on April 3, 2005

Out of the U.K. comes a report about scientists considering the adoption of RFID to avoid heartbreaking mistakes (?) when using in vitro fertilization (definition).

New Scientist magazine has the report:

"In 2002, two proud and relieved parents, Mr and Mrs A, saw their newborn twins for the first time, conceived after a long and difficult course of IVF treatment. At last it all seemed worthwhile. Except the babies were of mixed race, while both parents were white.

The IVF clinic had blundered, and used the wrong sperm to fertilise Mrs A's eggs. The child's biological father was Mr B, a man the couple had never met and who with his partner was also trying for a family using IVF. Similar accidents have happened in the US and the Netherlands.

Now, in a bid to stop such mistakes happening again, the UK's regulatory body, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) is considering labelling all embryos, eggs and sperm with barcodes or electronic ID tags. The idea, discussed at the HFEA's annual conference in London last month, is that an alarm will sound if the wrong eggs and sperm are brought close to one another, for instance, or if a doctor attempts to collect the wrong embryo to implant into a mother-to-be."

Scientists are conducting tests on mouse embryos to be certain that the proximity of RFID tags will not harm the embryos by heating them up, for instance.

Hat tip to Barbara Payne for the link.