An animation video which shows artificial incubation of babies is being widely shared. The video is being shared with a claim that a company named EctoLife is producing 30,000 such lab-grown artificial babies every year. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: EctoLife is producing 30,000 lab-grown artificial babies every year.
Fact: The viral visuals are just a depiction of the concept of incubation of babies through artificial wombs by a Berlin based science communicator and biotechnologist, Hashem Al Ghaili. He confirmed that the technology currently does not exist. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
The video shared in the viral post shows the idea of incubation of babies in artificial wombs. It is a concept introduced by Hashem Al Ghaili, a Berlin based science communicator and biotechnologist. Google search with relevant keywords yielded multiple news reports which reported the this concept by Hashem (here & here).
However, the facility is not in operational stage currently. It is just a concept pitched by Hashem Al Ghaili. He introduced this concept in December 2022. According to Hashem Al Ghaili, Ecto Life could grow around 30,000 babies. He further added that this could help people to produce customized babies. Introducing the concept, Hashem Al Ghaili, shared the same video on his YouTube channel.
When contacted by USA Today, he confirmed that the technology depicted in the video does not exist yet. And EctoLife is not a real company.
In the past, research has been done in studying the possibility of developing life outside the womb. ‘In 2017, a team of researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia kept a pre-viable lamb fetus alive for four weeks in an amniotic sac, one designed to imitate the womb from which the developing embryo had been prematurely plucked.’
Studies related to artificial womb can be viewed here and here. However, there doesn’t exist any facility of growing babies outside womb as shown in the viral video. The visuals shared in the viral post is just a depiction of the concept but not an existing technology.
To sum it up, concept video of artificial womb technology is being shared as a real facility.
