![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.edrugstore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/in_vitro.png\" "\\"in_vitro\\"")
No one can dispute the fact that British Professor Robert Edwards played an integral role on the two-man team that made an important and historic scientific breakthrough with in vitro fertilization (IVF). In so many words, Edwards is the real \u201cfather\u201d of the first test-tube baby born in 1978 \u2013 Louise Brown.<\/p>\n
Now, 32 years later, the Nobel Foundation has lit a fire under the controversy surrounding in vitro fertilization. At 85 years old, Edwards has won the 2010 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his pioneering efforts with in vitro. Now everyone including the Vatican is chiming in with their opinions on what Edwards\u2019 discovery has ultimately meant to mankind.<\/p>\n
IVF continues to flourish with stories like Octomom, and others, gaining headlines. The U.S. is home to more IVF babies than any country in the world (but not per capita, see below). Current estimates state that about 4 million babies have been born through IVF worldwide.<\/p>\n
IVF has given hope to, and literally changed the lives of, millions of couples who otherwise would be incapable of having children. Lesley and John Brown tried to have a baby for nine years before their scientific breakthrough with baby Louise. In fact, the Browns went on to have another daughter through IVF \u2013 Natalie Brown was the fortieth IVF baby, and the first to give birth to herself naturally.<\/p>\n
Despite all of the \u201csuccess\u201d stories with IVF, the procedure continues to draw heat. The Vatican, and even many in the medical field, have denounced or spoken strongly against IVF. Although Edwards was a helluva scientist, is the world a better place because of IVF?<\/p>\n
Bishop Ignacio Carrasco de Paula,\u00a0the Vatican\u2019s bio-ethics official, has his own opinion.\u00a0The President of the Pontifical Academy for Life at the Vatican, Carrasco de Paula\u00a0said that Edwards\u2019 research is responsible for freezers full of embryos, many of which will be used for research or disposed of.<\/p>\n
![\"British](\"\/blog\/files\/media\/Images%202\/In%20Vitro%20Edwards.jpg\")
Edwards\u2019 discoveries have created a \u201cmarket,\u201d or at least a new industry, for donor eggs. The Vatican and many of its supporters believe a lucrative industry centered on eggs and embryos is unethical, and that the concept of \u201cmothers for hire\u201d is repulsive. The Vatican says the Nobel Prize minimizes the ethical issues surrounding IVF and that further, patient research needs to be done to overcome the true causes of infertility.<\/p>\n