| Title: | Equine Notes Conference |
| Notice: | Topics List=4, Horses 4Sale/Wanted=150, Equip 4Sale/Wanted=151 |
| Moderator: | MTADMS::COBURN IO |
| Created: | Tue Feb 11 1986 |
| Last Modified: | Thu Jun 05 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 2080 |
| Total number of notes: | 22383 |
I thought this might be of general interest to everyone - especially those who are into breeding horses: It may be available in the near future to select what sex (male/female) you want to produce before conception takes place. My Uncle is a scientist currently involved in genetics research out of Yale University. He is currently trying to patent a device which can separate sperm into male and female domains. Then, by artificially inseminating the desired sex sperm into the female, the offspring's sex can be controlled. He is presently working with cattle, so farmers' breeding programs can produce only milking cows if they wish. As you may have guessed - this technique could be used on all sperm producing mammals - even humans. And the findings/patenting of a device has already caused controversy. My Uncle did not intend for his findings to be used on people. Here is a case where scientific findings may or may not be misused by society. My Uncle has already received many letters from parents who want to choose the sex of their next child. I would like to remain neutral on the subject, although I tend to think that I would only want to see this performed on animals. I personally would like to be able to choose that my mare have a colt when I go to have her bred next week... I would be interested in hearing your comments. -Melinda
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 91.1 | update? | JETSAM::WILBUR | Thu Jan 05 1989 11:51 | 5 | |
I'm curious...Two years later...is the device in use?
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| 91.2 | update | TALLIS::MJOHNSON | Fri Jan 06 1989 10:03 | 12 | |
The device was patented, but the problem has been marketing it. There have been a lot of people claiming they have devices to separate male sperm from female sperm already. However many of these people don't have the statistics to back up their product, and consequently, investors have lost money and are acting more cautious. Sort of like Artificial Intelligence. Lots of people 'cried wolf' claiming to have an AI application when really it wasn't. This may have made it more difficult to market true AI applications. As it turned out I got my colt without using the device. The odds aren't all that bad really. | |||||