http://www.theaustralian.com.au:80/national/4165596.htm
21 years on, IVF cells us on a healthier future
By MISHA SCHUBERT
26 July 1999
ON the 21st birthday of the world's first IVF child, Australian pioneers in
reproductive technology yesterday foreshadowed the next scientific
revolution in cell research.
By the time that child, Englishwoman Louise Brown, celebrates her 50th
birthday, they hope to have found a cure for Parkinson's disease,
Alzheimer's and quadriplegia using the technology that gave her life.
"There's a huge revolution still coming that is associated with this," said
Alan Trounson, scientific director at Melbourne's Monash IVF. "We've now got
cell lines in the lab derived from human embryos that we can grow into nerve
bundles and muscle cells and blood cells. In future, we can probably cure
paraplegia, quadriplegia, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's with those
cells."
Recalling the early research at the Monash clinic, its founder, Carl Wood,
said governments initially preferred to turn a blind eye to embryo research.
All were wary of granting funds to a venture without a track record or which
might produce abnormal children.
"I had evidence in two animal species that no harm had come from IVF
children, but you can't be 100 per cent certain, so it wasn't until the
first 100 babies that I started to relax a little," Professor Wood said.
The tally stands today at 30,000 IVF births in Australia, 5000 at Monash
IVF. Globally, the total is estimated at 750,000.
Since the first Australian research team was established between Monash and
Melbourne universities in 1971, the program has fielded more than its share
of controversy.
But during the 1980s, the team met its critics head-on, talking with
religious groups to explain the research – and, in the process, diminishing
the worst of the opposition.
"Reproductive science has been painted as an ogre, but it's one of the most
powerful tools in biological science and I think it will eventually unravel
the mysteries of man's evolution," Professor Wood said.
The joint team's first IVF pregnancy, lasting only two weeks, came in 1973.
Their first birth – also an Australian first – was Candice Reid in 1980. In
June 1981, the team produced the world's first IVF twins, Stephen and Amanda
Mays.
At the time, the pair were inundated with attention; now they say their IVF
conception is a matter of passing interest.
"It used to be unusual, but it's not anymore," said Amanda. "I don't really
think about it that often."
--
Judith Richards, London, Ontario, Canada
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