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Prof. Dr. med. Dr. rer. nat.
Hans-Werner Denker
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Hans-Werner Denker – University Duisburg-Essen Deutsche Version English Version

Nobel Price for Bob Edwards and the Introduction of In-Vitro-Fertilisation (IVF) into reproductive medicine (October 2010)

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Comment

The introduction of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) technology into reproductive medicine, an achievement for which Bob Edwards has now received the Nobel price, has far-reaching implications which the "fathers" of Louise Brown could not see yet in 1978. Questions concerning the ethical implications of research on human embryonic stem cells, of preimplantation diagnostics (PID/PGD) or of human cloning (e.g. by tetraploid complementation of pluripotent cells) have become a topic only due to the possibility of performing IVF in the human. It is tremendously important to use any such opportunity (like this awarding of the Nobel price) to halt for a moment, to contemplate what we are doing and what we perhaps should not do, and to remind politicians that they continuously need to care about these uncomfortable questions.

Rather than formulating a detailed comment of my own let me recommend to take a look at the remarks found on the website of the former french competitor in the race about the first test tube baby, Jacques Testart: http://jacques.testart.free.fr/index.php?post/texte862

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