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The technique developed last year by Dr. Shinya Yamanaka, Kyoto University, of converting adult skin cells into  embryonic-like pluripotent stem cells  has been  hailed by pro-lifers  because it eliminates the need for manufacturing  and destroying human embryos for their stem cells. 

President Bush's ban on federal funding of  embryonic stem cell research has been vindicated because it persuaded scientists to "think outside the box". Yamanaka's induced Pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) proved  their worth  when scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology  showed  these cells can be used to successfully treat sickle cell anaemia in mice. Researchers who  had tried the same experiment with cloning and failed,  said  this demonstrated that iPScells have the same potential for therapy as embryonic stem cells, without the ethical  dilemmas.

However, while the necessity for  experimenting on human embryos has been eliminated, the technology raises other ethical issues.  Yamanaka   said   the potential for iPS cells to develop  into any kind of cell means that sperm and eggs could be made from the iPS cells of  one person  and  "what if somebody took those sperm and eggs from a single person and fertilised them? The result would not be a clone because of the way cells divide during sexual reproduction - the fertilised egg would not be genetically identical to the original iPS cells -  but it would be something very strange and dangerous."

Narcissistic feminists who would love to have "a baby of their very own" without any male input would not regard the technology as 'strange’  but would welcome it.  However,  Josehine Quintavalle, Director, Comment on Reproductive Ethics, describes it as “the ultimate incest”. 

Then there is the technology  being pursued  by researchers at Newcastle-upon-Tyne University who are trying to turn cells from women's bone marrow into sperm.   This would enable lesbian couples to have their own children without hunting  for male donors, and as a bonus, the resultant babies would all be female. 

The technology  is also available to men, who could have their skin cells turned into ova, but they will  need  women as surrogate mothers to gestate  embryos. 

No such problems for  feminist separatists who flourish in the wimmyns studies departments of universities.  They have long dreamed  of a world without men, now their dream is approaching reality.  Through no-fault divorce  - mostly initiated by women - men have already been marginalised in the lives of their children,   now men will be  biologically redundant too. 

Nature is   ruthless  in terms of biological imperatives -   what is not  necessary for the survival of a species can be eliminated.   The imposition  of feminist policies over ostensibly male-dominated Parliaments   - think of Kay Patterson's cloning Bills, and  IVF for single women  legislation  - could mean the end of men.

Male sperm count is dropping alarmingly worldwide.  There is speculation this is caused by estrogen entering   water supplies through women's use of the contraceptive pill.  Estrogen cannot easily be eliminated from water, unlike bacteria.  There is evidence that fish are changing sex - or as UN feminists would say, "exploring their gender options"  - in water near sewage outlets.  When male sperm count plummets to zero, women may be able to manufacture their own sperm using  iPS cells from  bone marrow. 

But I think we still need men  -  like Yamanaka,  they have that scientific capacity to "think outside the box".  Remember the old joke about the feminists of the world who decided they had enough sperm stored in the fridges of the world  and so they could get rid  of all the men, which they proceeded to do?  Unfortunately  there was a power failure which none of the ladies could fix,  the fridges defrosted  and the sperm perished, as did humankind.

I was reminded of that at a recent "Melbourne Community Consultation Event"  held by the Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner at the Victorian Equal Opportunity Commission  office in the city.  All the usual feminist-lesbian cabal were there to enlarge on their grievances, plus a few dispirited-looking men.  The event was thirty minutes late in starting because the sound system was not working, and none of the ladies in charge  could fix it  despite all their decades of equal opportunity education.  Eventually one of the ladies narrated the dialogue on the videos we were shown, but it made me nostalgic for a red-blooded,  blue-collar male tradesman who could have fixed the sound.  Let's hope they  - like men in general - are not a vanishing species.