STOCKHOLM (Oct. 4) -- Robert Edwards of Britain won the 2010
Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for developing in-vitro fertilization, a
controversial breakthrough that ignited sharp criticism from religious leaders
but helped millions of infertile couples in the last three decades have
children.
Edwards, an 85-year-old professor emeritus at the University
of Cambridge, started working on IVF as early as the 1950s. He developed the
technique - in which egg cells are removed from a woman, fertilized outside her
body and then implanted into the womb - together with British gynecologist
surgeon Patrick Steptoe, who died in 1988.
On July 25, 1978, Louise Brown in Britain became the first
baby born through the groundbreaking procedure, marking a revolution in fertility
treatment.
"(Edwards') achievements have made it possible to treat
infertility, a medical condition afflicting a large proportion of humanity,
including more than 10 percent of all couples worldwide," the medicine
prize committee in Stockholm said in its citation.
"Approximately 4 million individuals have been born
thanks to IVF," the citation said. "Today, Robert Edwards' vision is
a reality and brings joy to infertile people all over the world."
Steptoe and Edwards developed IVF from the early beginning
experiments into a practical course of medicine and founded the first IVF
clinic at Bourn Hall in Cambridge in 1980.
Today, the probability that an infertile couple will take
home a baby after a cycle of IVF is 1 in 5, about the same odds that healthy
couples have of conceiving naturally.
Prize committee secretary Goran Hansson said Edwards was not
in good health Monday when the committee tried to reach him. Bourn Hall said
Edwards was too ill to give interviews.
"I spoke to his wife and she was delighted and she was
sure he would be delighted too," Hansson told reporters in Stockholm after
announcing the 10 million kronor ($1.5 million) award.
"Louise's birth signified so much," Edwards said
at Brown's 25th birthday celebration in 2003. "We had to fight a lot of
opposition but we had concepts that we thought would work and they
worked."
Brown, now 32, reportedly is a postal worker in the English
coastal city of Bristol. In 2007 she gave birth to her first child - a boy
named Cameron. She said the child was conceived naturally.
"Its fantastic news, me and mum are so glad that one of
the pioneers of IVF has been given the recognition he deserves. We hold Bob in
great affection and are delighted to send our personal congratulations,"
Brown said in a statement released by Bourn Hall.
The work by Edwards and Steptoe stirred a "lively
ethical debate," the Nobel citation said, with the Vatican, other
religious leaders and some scientists demanding the project be stopped. When
the British Medical Research Council declined funding for Steptoe and Edwards,
a private donation allowed them to continue their research.
The Vatican is opposed to IVF because it involves separating
conception from the "conjugal act" - sexual intercourse between a
husband and wife - and often results in the destruction of human embryos that
are taken from a woman but not used.
There was no immediate comment from the Vatican's top
bioethics officials Monday to word of the Nobel.
In a statement, Bourn Hall said one of Edwards' proudest
moments was discovering that 1,000 IVF babies had been born at the clinic since
Brown, and relaying that information to a seriously ill Steptoe shortly before
his death in 1988.
"I'll never forget the look of joy in his eyes,"
Edwards said.
William Ledger, head of reproductive and developmental
medicine at Sheffield University, called the award "an appropriate
recognition" for Edwards.
"The only sadness is that Patrick Steptoe has not lived
to see this day because it was always a joint team effort between the two of
them," Ledger said.
Steptoe was not honored with a prize because Nobel rules
were amended in 1974 to prohibit posthumous prizes.
Other experts criticized Britain for not honoring Edwards
earlier with a knighthood.
"It's a shame Britain hasn't recognized him in a more
explicit fashion," said Francoise Shenfield, infertility expert with the
European Society of Human Reproduction and lecturer in medical ethics at
University College London.
In an interview with The Times of London in 2003, Edwards
said he was "not terribly bothered" about not getting a knighthood.
"I'm a very left-wing socialist and I won't shed a
tear. But if you can organize a Nobel, please go ahead," he joked.
Aleksander Giwercman, head of reproduction research at the
University of Lund in Sweden, said Edwards' achievements also provided tools
for other areas of research, including cancer and stem cells.
"Many of the illnesses that develop when we are adults
have their origin early on in life, during conception," Giwercman said.
The controversy over in-vitro technology has not dimmed
despite its popularity. In the last few years, the increasing use of IVF has
also raised discussions about what age it's appropriate to become a mother. In
2006, a 67-year-old Spanish woman became a mother after she used IVF technology
to conceive twins, only to die herself two years later.
The medicine award was the first of the 2010 Nobel Prizes to
be announced. It will be followed by physics on Tuesday, chemistry on
Wednesday, literature on Thursday, the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday and
economics on Monday Oct. 11.
