Last week, Apple and Facebook created a media firestorm after announcing that their lush benefit packages will now include egg freezing coverage. But lost in the theoretical discussions about the merits of this perk are more realistic considerations.本月，苹果（Apple）与Facebook陆续宣告将把卵子冷藏重新加入到其“福利大礼包”中，这一消息很快引起媒体热议。然而，在一大堆关于这项福利优点的理论性探究中，却没有人考虑到一些更为现实的因素。The cavalier marketing of whizzy egg freezing is clearly working if two of the largest tech companies are signing up to pay for it. Yet knowing what I know now about reproductive medicine, I would advise any woman considering this risky surgical procedure to consider that egg freezing–using startup lingo–is the very high-risk “A round.” It is a long, long way from a successful exit.如果这两家仅次于的科技公司最后表示同意借钱，那解释，对高科技卵子冷藏技术不负责任的营销获得了效果。

然而就笔者对生殖医学的理解，我建议想拒绝接受这项高风险手术的女同胞，首先应当想起，卵子冷藏，用创投界的行话来说，只是高风险的“首轮融资”，离顺利解散的完满结局还有很长的距离。Egg freezing is far from settled science. In the UK, which is one of the few countries to track and account for fertility treatment outcomes, only 20 babies have been born from frozen eggs, according to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). And no one knows for sure how egg freezing chemicals are absorbed by eggs, or how they affect cell development.卵子冷藏近算不上一门成熟期的科学。英国是少数几个追踪和发布生育化疗结果的国家之一。

据英国人类受精卵与胚胎管理局（Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority，HFEA）统计资料，迄今为止，靠冷藏卵子出生于的婴儿仅有20个。而且谁也无法确认，冷藏所用化学物质有多少不会被卵子吸取或影响细胞发育。

For a 38-year-old woman, the chance of one frozen egg leading to a live birth is only 2% to 12%, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). This is a key finding given that the average age of non-medical egg freezing customers in the U.S. is 37.4.美国生殖医学会（American Society for Reproductive Medicine，ASRM）统计资料，对一位38岁的女性来说，一个冷藏卵子顺利长成婴儿的概率仅有2-12%。这项调查结果十分关键，因为美国非医疗卵子冷藏的客户平均年龄乃是37.4岁。

Amid the latest tech perk bragging rights, sobering facts about the procedure’s limitations and the associated risks have been overlooked and underreported.最近科技公司的福利被肆意讥讽的时候，人们却忽略了卵子冷藏的局限性和涉及风险这些有一点深思的事实，媒体堪称少有报导。First, most people don’t realize the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the ASRM do not endorse the use of egg freezing to defer childbearing. The ASRM’s decision to lift the “experimental” label from this still young procedure in 2012 only applied to medically indicated need, such as women with cancer.首先，大多数人未意识到，美国妇产科医师协会（American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists）和ASRM并不赞同通过卵子冷藏来延期生育。ASRM中止该项新兴技术“实验性质”的要求，仅有限于于医学必须，例如患上癌症的女性。

Second, there are no guarantees for a successful or healthy pregnancy and delivery. In order to attempt pregnancy, egg freezing must be followed by in vitro fertilization (IVF) with another laboratory procedure, a technique known as ICSI (Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection). For the latest flash freezing process trumpeted by enterprising fertility clinics and a host of profit-driven service providers, the most comprehensive data available reveals a 77% failure rate of frozen eggs resulting in a live birth in women aged 30, and a 91% failure rate in women aged 40.其次，该技术没顺利或身体健康分娩和生产的确保。为了分娩，卵子冷藏必需因应另外一套实验室程序——体外受精（IVF），该项技术被称作ICSI（卵母细胞胞浆内单精子静脉注射）。

以企业性质的生育医院和大批以盈利为目的的服务商所提倡的近期瞬间冷藏技术为事例，最全面的数据表明，30岁女性冷藏卵子活产失败率为77%，而40岁女性的失败率高达91%。But the dry statistics don’t take into account the very real emotional strain and trauma that often accompanies artificial reproduction and their frequent failures. Silicon Valley celebrates success. Even business failure can be accepted as an opportunity to learn. But failure takes on a much deeper personal meaning when it involves parenthood expectations.然而，乏味的统计数据未考虑到人工生殖及其频密的告终所带给的现实情感压力与后遗症。硅谷赞美顺利。

即使经营告终也不会被指出是自学的机会。但当上父母的希望落空，对于个人却具有更加深层的影响。

I have seen the good, the bad and the ugly where fertility medicine is concerned. The first time I visited a fertility clinic I was 33 and in great health. I met with an ASRM affiliated doctor who received his training at Stanford University. My attempts were paid out of pocket (none of my employers offered infertility benefits). I pursued increasingly complex procedures including egg retrievals and ICSI IVF with both fresh and frozen embryo transfers.我曾亲眼过生育医学好的、怕的和古怪的各个方面。我第一次去一家生育医院，只有33岁，身体健康。

我遇上一位附属于ASRM的医生，他在斯坦福大学（Stanford University）拒绝接受过培训。当时我的费用全部是出钱（我的雇员没获取不孕不育福利）。我经历了更加简单的程序，例如取卵，ICSI IVF，还包括新鲜胚胎与冷藏胚胎植入。

本文来源：乐竞·体育-www.biobactrac.com