In a field as ever-changing as biomedical technology, NIU Professor Robert Blank has his work cut out for him.

Blank, a political scientist, is a prolific author whose most recent book, “Regulating Reproduction,” was just released.

Covering topics as diverse as surrogate motherhood, in vitro fertilization, frozen embryos and sex preselection, “Regulating Reproduction” is Blank’s 12th published book.

“It’s a neat field, but somewhat frustrating to write about because it’s always changing,” Blank said. To keep up with the changes, he is under contract to complete nine books within the next three years.

Blank began his career in political science as a specialist in political parties, but was drawn to biomedical issues through his interest in science fiction.

If science and ethics allowed it, the United States could easily create a society like that of “Brave New World,” by Aldous Huxley, Blank said.

Blank said technologies on the forefront include “pregnant” males with in vitro fertilized eggs implanted in their abdomens, and splicing ova of two women to create their own daughter without sperm.

“These are remarkable technologies with many, many benefits for people,” Blank said. “On the other hand, they’re very powerful and we really haven’t looked at them very carefully.”

Because regulating biomedics is “a no-win political issue,” Congress has left regulation up to the individual states, creating inconsistent laws, Blank said.

And without consistent laws, “much of our policy is made in the courts” where precedence is set, he said. “To me, that’s very dangerous because courts aren’t designed to make policy. They’re designed to adjudicate.”

In his latest book, Blank explains the need for a national body to determine the benefits and risks of biomedical techniques and possibly make some guidelines.

“None of this has been dealt with on a national level,” Blank said. “We have to look at the broader implications. What impact does this have on children, women and families?”

“We expect technology to overcome our problems, but what it results in is more problems or it changes our values,” Blank said.

Does surrogate motherhood and other procedures make children, wombs, ova and sperm commodities? Does it lead to the view that the only good child is a perfect child? What about the complex family structures that result?

“Potentially, a child could have five or more parents, not counting stepparents,” Blank says in his book. Parenthood has changed to a series of specialties involving the “genetic mother,” “carrying mother,” “nurturing mother,” “genetic father” and “nurturing father.”

The ethical dilemmas aren’t limited only to the United States, but “the U.S. tends to be the slowest in reacting to it,” he said. Other Western nations, especially those with parliamentary systems, have responded more quickly.

Ever since Congress declared a moratorium on federal funding for biomedical research, advances have come from the private sector, where profit is motivation, Blank said.

For example, in vitro fertilization procedures, which give a 15 percent chance of a child, cost about $25,000. Some clinics offer even worse odds, he said.

And with as many as 1 in 6 couples being infertile and a trend toward decreasing family size, Blank predicts more and more people will turn toward technological reproduction.