Are IVF Babies Clones? Busting a Common IVF Myth
No, IVF babies aren't clones. What IVF actually does, how it differs from cloning, and why an IVF baby is a unique mix of both parents.
"Is an IVF baby a clone?" It's a question many IVF parents have heard. The short answer is no. IVF and cloning are completely different things.
At a glance
- IVF helps an egg and sperm meet in a lab instead of inside the body. The embryo is then placed in the womb.1
- Like any baby, an IVF baby gets one copy of each gene from each parent, so they're a new, unique mix of both.2
- Cloning is completely different. It makes a genetic copy of one individual, using DNA from a single body cell instead of an egg and sperm.3
- There's no solid scientific evidence that anyone has ever cloned a human embryo.3
Remember
Same parents. Same biology. IVF just gives the egg and sperm a little help meeting.
▶ Watch: Henry and Precious answer the clone question and explain what IVF actually does.
Sources & Further Reading
[1] NHS. IVF. Read the NHS IVF page Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. ↩
[2] MedlinePlus Genetics, US National Library of Medicine. What is a gene? Read the MedlinePlus Genetics page Licence: US federal government work, public domain. Courtesy of MedlinePlus from the National Library of Medicine. ↩
[3] National Human Genome Research Institute. Cloning Fact Sheet. Read the NHGRI cloning fact sheet Licence: US federal government work, public domain. ↩
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