Technology for lab-grown eggs or sperm on brink of viability, UK fertility watchdog finds

Lab-grown eggs have been used produce healthy babies in mice – including ones with two biological fathers. Photograph: Sang Tan/AP

Mass-producing eggs and sperm in a laboratory in order to have a baby with yourself or three other people in a “multiplex” parenting arrangement might sound like the plot of a dystopian novel.

But these startling scenarios are under consideration by the UK’s fertility watchdog, which has concluded that the technology could be on the brink of viability.