"Father" of IVF wins Nobel Prize for medicine



Dr.Edwards, winner of the Nobel Prize for the medicines



     British physiologist Robert Edwards, the father of in-vitro fertilisation, won the 2010 Nobel Prize for medicine or physiology. Dr.Edwards received US$1.5 million for his work which lead to the advancement of modern science. There been over 4 million babies born using this technology ever since the first IVF baby was born in 1978; Dr.Edward's contributions have solved a medical condition that affects over 10% of the world's couples. When the first IVF baby, Louise Brown, was born, there were many conerns with whether she would grow normally; additionally, there were many religious and ethnic concerns. However, as Louise grew up, she turned out to be as healthy as other children. In addition, Louise has one son who was conceived naturally. 1-2% of babies in the Western World are conceived through IVF methods, stated by Christer Hoog. The downside to IVF; however, is its cost, it can cost patients up to 12 grande in the States, but in some countries, this method is funded by the health care system. Dr.Edwards motivation towards achieving this goal was because he wanted to help families, to give everyone a chance to have children because they were the most important and precise thing in the world to parents.

     This is another huge step towards technology and reveals the potential we have as humans to achieve great goals. However, this also poses a conflict with religion; if IVF can already be achieved, how far down the road will we be able to clone? The capabilities of technology in modern society is as rewarding as it is scary, while it can used to help create a better society, it can also destory balance in the wrong hands. With this practise, it may be possible that parents will no longer have the same values for a child; IVF takes the human values away from a child, making them more lab experiments than people.