Mother gives eggs so daughter can have baby

Montreal - A Canadian mother has frozen some of her eggs so her seven-year-old daughter can give birth should her genetic disorder make her infertile as an adult.

If Flavie Boivin should become infertile, her mother's eggs could make it possible for her to give birth nonetheless, to a child who would be not only her offspring, but also her half-sister or half-brother.

"It's the first time in the world" for a mother-daughter egg donation, said Seang Lin Tan, professor and chairman of obstetrics and gynaecology at McGill University, Montreal, and medical director of its reproductive centre.

Tan, who treated Boivin, said McGill University Health Centre's ethics committee gave its authorisation for the extraction of her eggs, which will be kept frozen for years to come.

He said the daughter was under no obligation to accept the eggs.