IVF Creator Wins the Nobel for Medicine

Dr. Robert G. Edwards, the British scientist who developed in vitro fertilization (IVF), won the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

The prize committee in Sweden said Dr. Edwards "battled societal and establishment resistance to his development of the in vitro fertilization procedure, which has so far led to the birth of around 4 million people."

Those of us connected with the fertiliy industry for a few decades remember the creators as "Edwards and Steptoe." Dr. Steptoe did not share in the $1.5-million prize because Nobel rules require honorees to be alive at the time of the award, and he died 22 years ago.

Some news stories have mentioned that "the establishment" initially opposed IVF but--with the exception of the Roman Catholic Church--nobody has a problem with it today. And that's generally true. But it's not because hard-nosed critics somehow "evolved" into enlightened thinkers. At the time of Louise Brown's conception, no one knew what kind of risk scientists were taking with embroyos, nor did anyone know if IVF babies would be healthy. Caution was wisdom. And indeed earlier procedures were less efficient than today's practices. As the risks became known and/or decreased, some of us withdrew many of our objections. Yet doctors still discard embryos and/or take enormous risks with them. That's why we still try to train patients to be good managers of their own care. They can influence lab practices for handling their cases. Also, some scientists and ethicists are still concerned about a link between IVF and rare birth defects, but most feel the benefits outweigh the risks.