Test-tube baby grows up, gives birth
BEIJING: The first test-tube baby on the Chinese mainland, a female born in 1988, is now an adult and has given birth to a healthy boy, Peking University Third Hospital said.
The event proved the efficacy of the technology, the hospital said.
People had worried that if a couple had reproductive problems and resorted to in vitro fertilisation (IVF), their offspring would inherit the same fertility problems.
But the birth announced on Monday indicates that is not true. The baby was conceived naturally.
Qiao Jie, president of the hospital where both the mother and baby were born, said the boy’s birth proved that infertility was not necessarily passed down genetically.
“It has been a public concern whether test-tube babies can reproduce naturally and their next generation remain healthy,” Qiao said.
“The birth of the healthy baby means some people’s misgivings about IVF can be dismissed.”
The newborn weighed just over 3.8kg and was delivered via caesarean section, said Yang Dongping, a publicity official at the hospital.
Some male adults who were conceived through IVF in China have fathered children naturally.
One of the males, Luo Youqun, fathered a child naturally in April 2016, according to media reports.
But Monday’s announcement represents the first instance of an IVF mother reproducing.
The mother, Zheng Mengzhu, was conceived through IVF and was born on March 10, 1988. Her birth was a milestone in the history of reproductive technology in China.
Although China’s progress in assisted reproductive technology followed developed countries, the country has made rapid progress in the field over the past few decades.
It now ranks at the top of the world in certain aspects of the field, the hospital said.