Christianity - A Journey from Facts to Fiction — Page 175
appendix ii Parthenogenesis; non-sexual reproduction that is the development of the ovum into an individual without fertilization by a sper- matozoon. Parthenogenesis is very common in the insect world and in fish, and is routine in animals such as the aphids. Among the reptiles there is strong evidence that parthenogenesis can be a successful strategy for lizards in an environment with low and unpredictable rainfall 6. In the Lancet in 1955 it was reported that a woman had a daughter where parthenogenesis could not be disproved. It has been produced in mammals experimentally. There is, however, no certain record of the birth of a parthenogenetic mammal: The most that has been achieved is that parthenogenetic mice and rabbit embryos have developed normally to about halfway through pregnancy but have then died and been aborted. In humans a recent research study was carried out on ‘The devel- opment and systematic study of the parthenogenetic activation and early development of human oocyte’. 7 In this study, human oocyte, both freshly retrieved and remaining unfertilized after exposure to spermatozoa, were exposed to alcohol or calcium ionophore and examined for evidence of activation. The outcome of this study was that human oocyte can be activated partheno 6 Genetics : 1991 Sept 129(1):211–9 7 Fertility—Sterility —1991 Nov; 56(5):904–12