IVF project stirs debate over how to preserve pandas
Meiyue, Z.
Science 272(5268): 1580-1581
1996
ISSN/ISBN: 0036-8075 PMID: 8658127 Document Number: 325851
A proposal to save giant pandas in the wild through in vitro fertilization has sparked a scientific dispute within China over the use of this technology. Although artificial insemination has been used for almost two decades to breed captive pandas, the procedure is still experimental and has had mixed success. Proponents of IVF assert that the panda population, which now numbers about 1,000 in the wild, has declined to the point where new test-tube and embryo transplanting technologies are required to ward off extinction. Opponents claim that reproductive rates of wild pandas, although low, are sufficient to save the species if more is done to preserve their habitat. Pan Wenshi of Beijing University worries that funding an IVF project could drain money from that effort.