To avoid accidents in clinics, like using the wrong sperm to fertilise egg of a woman undergoing an IVF treatment, the UK’s Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority is considering labelling all embryos, eggs and sperm with barcodes or electronic ID tags. The idea is that an alarm will sound if the wrong eggs and sperm are brought close to one another or if a doctor attempts to collect the wrong embryo to implant into a mother-to-be.

IMT International is already developing barcodes for IVF procedures. Digital cameras built into the clinic’s benches read the barcodes off the labelled dishes containing eggs. A computer reads the codes, and sounds an alarm if they do not match with the patient.

The RFID tags would work in a similar way.

The HFEA is investigating whether such a system would be safe, as radio waves might harm embryos. IVF Witness, an RFID system being developed by Research Instruments has been tested on mouse embryos and, thought the tests are not complete, “it looks very, very good that there’s going to be no problem with it,” claims David Lansdowne, technical director at the company.

Via New Scientist.