{"id":59874,"date":"2020-01-07T17:07:30","date_gmt":"2020-01-07T15:07:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ivi.uk\/?p=59874"},"modified":"2022-12-01T14:02:51","modified_gmt":"2022-12-01T12:02:51","slug":"first-uk-ivf-baby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ivi.uk\/blog\/first-uk-ivf-baby\/","title":{"rendered":"41 years ago today the first IVF baby was born"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_68_1 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title \" >Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ivi.uk\/blog\/first-uk-ivf-baby\/#i\" title=\"\u00a0\">\u00a0<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ivi.uk\/blog\/first-uk-ivf-baby\/#From_Test_Tube_Baby_to_Assisted_Fertility_Treatment\" title=\"From Test Tube Baby to Assisted Fertility Treatment\">From Test Tube Baby to Assisted Fertility Treatment<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ivi.uk\/blog\/first-uk-ivf-baby\/#Regulation_and_control_in_the_UK_and_around_the_world\" title=\"Regulation and control in the UK and around the world\">Regulation and control in the UK and around the world<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ivi.uk\/blog\/first-uk-ivf-baby\/#Major_IVF_developments_since_the_first_IVF_baby\" title=\"Major IVF developments since the first IVF baby\">Major IVF developments since the first IVF baby<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ivi.uk\/blog\/first-uk-ivf-baby\/#Genetic_screening_of_embryos\" title=\"Genetic screening of embryos\">Genetic screening of embryos<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ivi.uk\/blog\/first-uk-ivf-baby\/#Other_IVF_developments_and_their_social_and_personal_impact\" title=\"Other IVF developments and their social and personal impact\">Other IVF developments and their social and personal impact<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"i\"><\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Fifty years ago, the first ever landing of men on the moon was heralded as a giant step for mankind. Indeed it was, but another more recent development has altered the personal and social landscape of our times in ways that have arguably even more impact. Just 41 years ago today, the world\u2019s <strong>first IVF baby<\/strong> was born. She was also <strong>the first IVF baby in the UK<\/strong> which was, and remains in many ways, a world leader in human reproductive medicine.<\/p>\n<p>Louise Brown\u2019s birth in Oldham in 1978 was the culmination of the work of Cambridge physiologist Robert Edwards, who in 2010 was awarded the Nobel Prize for the \u201cdevelopment of human <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ivi.uk\/assisted-reproduction-treatments\/in-vitro-fertilisation\/\">in vitro fertilization (IVF) therapy<\/a>\u201d. Clinical management was provided by Patrick Steptoe, an obstetrician at Oldham General Hospital. On that historic day, as well as Louise Brown, a new era was born.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"From_Test_Tube_Baby_to_Assisted_Fertility_Treatment\"><\/span>From Test Tube Baby to Assisted Fertility Treatment<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Robert Edwards\u2019 work on developing fertilisation outside the human body started in the 1950s and was initially greeted with incredulity and hostility from the medical profession. The Medical Research Council, at the time the major British funder of medical research, refused funding and held this position throughout the 1970s. The work continued with private funding, culminating in the birth of the first IVF baby. It was this birth that changed everything.<\/p>\n<p>Suddenly the British and world press were full of praise for the \u2018test tube baby\u2019 which, they discovered to their delight, was just like any other baby. Of course, \u2018test tube baby\u2019 was always a misnomer (there is no test tube involved and \u2018in vitro\u2019 simply means in glass) but the idea caught on like wildfire in the public imagination. Forty-one short years later the term \u2018test tube baby\u2019 sounds quaint and we have moved on. Assisted reproduction is now a normal part of everyday life.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Regulation_and_control_in_the_UK_and_around_the_world\"><\/span>Regulation and control in the UK and around the world<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>A year later Durga, aka Kanupriya Agarwal, the world\u2019s second IVF baby, was born in India, followed by live IVF births in Australia in 1980, in the USA in 1981 and in Sweden and France in 1982. It was clear that this exciting new technology had vast potential for alleviating infertility but there were at the same time growing ethical concerns about the use of \u2018spare\u2019 embryos left over from the IVF process and the need for regulation of their uses.<\/p>\n<p>The British Government set up the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) in 1990. This is the first statutory body of its kind in the world, with a remit to license, monitor and inspect fertility clinics and provide impartial information about fertility treatment, clinics and egg, sperm and embryo donation.<\/p>\n<p>In Europe, the original practitioner of IVF, Robert Edwards, was one of the founding members of ESHRE, the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. Its aim is to promote the understanding of reproductive medicine, provide safety guidance and maintain data records and collaborate with policy makers throughout Europe. It is not however a formal regulatory body and the legal landscapes in different European countries are quite significantly different.<\/p>\n<p>For example, in Spain the strict regulations guarding the anonymity of egg and sperm donors is very different from Germany, the Netherlands and the UK where the HFEA has established comparatively open rules allowing children conceived with donor eggs or sperm to access details of the donor\u2019s identity. This has a limiting knock-on effect on the availability of donor eggs and sperm, with resulting extensive waiting times.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Major_IVF_developments_since_the_first_IVF_baby\"><\/span>Major IVF developments since the first IVF baby<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Genetic_screening_of_embryos\"><\/span>Genetic screening of embryos<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Since the first realisation that an embryo could be studied to determine its sex, researchers realised that this was an opportunity to screen for, and eliminate, certain sex-related heritable conditions. This has led to the current availability of techniques such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ivi.uk\/assisted-reproduction-treatments\/ivf-genetic-screening\/\">preimplantation genetic screening for aneuploidy<\/a> and other genetic testing such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ivi.uk\/assisted-reproduction-treatments\/pgd-pgt\/\">PGT-M, which detects certain monogenic diseases<\/a>. In 2006, another world first was recorded when IVI, using IVF with the PGT technique, allowed the birth of a healthy baby to a couple in which one was a carrier of lymphohistiocytosis.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Other_IVF_developments_and_their_social_and_personal_impact\"><\/span>Other IVF developments and their social and personal impact<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>IVF means that the concept of the corporeal and consequently hidden nature of conception and the beginning of life has been changed forever. In addition, the notion of a fertility timeline defined as ovulation, conception, pregnancy and birth has lost its inevitable trajectory.<\/p>\n<p>Now it has become not only possible but widely accepted and normalised for this ancient timeline to be disrupted, for example when a woman opts to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ivi.uk\/assisted-reproduction-treatments\/fertility-preservation\/\">freeze her eggs <\/a>at a suitable age for later use, or for embryos created from an early round of IVF to be stored for future rounds if the need should arise. This has opened up new freedoms and choices for a whole generation of women and men that, 41 years ago, could have seemed like science fiction.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the future of IVF and assisted reproduction?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Medical research never stands still and new techniques and approaches to the way they are used are inevitable. Some of these may not be predictable, but a few developments seem likely. For example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Constantly improving methods of embryo selection, including genetic screening<\/li>\n<li>More young women will choose to freeze their eggs as a kind of insurance for their future options;<\/li>\n<li>New research into in vitro maturation will mean that lower hormone dosages are needed and side effects will therefore reduce;<\/li>\n<li>As genetic research goes forward, fertility experts will have the ability to screen for new diseases, perhaps even with the long-term aim of eliminating cancer.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Whether or not these possible futures come to pass, we can be sure of one thing. Just as the world changed with that momentous giant step for mankind on the moon, the birth of the <strong>first IVF baby<\/strong> has changed human fertility, human reproduction and all of our futures forever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fifty years ago, the first ever landing of men on the moon was heralded as a giant step for mankind. Indeed it was, but another more recent development has altered the personal and social landscape of our times in ways that have arguably even more impact. Just 41 years ago today, the world\u2019s first IVF baby was born. She was also the first IVF baby in the UK which was, and remains in many ways, a world leader in human reproductive medicine.","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51674,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[281,280],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>41 years ago today the first IVF baby was born - IVI UK<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Fifty years ago, the first ever landing of men on the moon was heralded as a giant step for mankind.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ivi.uk\/blog\/first-uk-ivf-baby\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"41 years ago today the first IVF baby was born - 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