Well Deserved Nobel Prize

Robert Edwards, the human behind In Vitro Fertilization, IVF, or "test tube babies", has been awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine for the discovery and development of IVF. With IVF, couples who are not able to procreate in a natural way can still get offspring by their own genes, fertilized outside of their bodies. It is also important to note that IVF can provide valuable insights for the purpose of conserving endangered canids. I include dog breeds with few individuals here, of course.

A Vatican official, Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, who is the Vatican spokesman on bio-ethics, have critizised that the prize was given to the man behind IVF, though he stressed that he made his statement in a personal capacity. He claimed IVF has resulted in many embryos who will never be able to grow and be born, and that most of these embryos will be killed. I believe this is a cost worth paying. Even in nature, many embryos perish before being born. Without IVF, not a single one of these embryos would become humans, dogs, or whatever they have in their genes to become.

When I first heard about IVF, my biggest concern was that it might be used to make less good genes pass on to coming generations. By this, I mean genes that would not be good enough to survive in nature without IVF. As far as I have learned, however, there is no evidence suggesting that individuals born through IVF has genes of lesser quality than others, nor, indeed, that these individuals have less probability than others of procreating in a natural way themselves. Consequently, IVF makes more genes survive to coming generations, genes of a quality that is at least as good as any others. Thus, the overall gene pool is improved, since it is made bigger. This is especially important with endangered species and endangered dog breeds.

As a mother of four, made in the natural way, I have no personal use for IVF. Nevertheless, I am glad it exists. I believe this Nobel Prize was well deserved.