KEY POINTS:
Thirty years ago the birth of Louise Brown, the world's first test-tube baby, marked a genuine medical breakthrough - one of the few that deserves the title. Until then, the limited treatments on offer - surgery and hormone therapy - could help only some of the millions of infertile couples devastated by the discovery that they were unable to create a family.
On July 25, 1978, they learned they had another option. Early fears about the safety and morality of the procedure were swept aside in the rush to take advantage of it. Today, four million babies have been born by IVF.
In a special report published by the journal Nature, scientists make some extraordinary predictions about the future of fertility treatment. They forecast an end to infertility with the potential for any person of any age from 1 to 100 to have children. Gestation might take place in an artificial womb, with embryos genetically manipulated to ensure they are free of disease.
Low-cost IVF might be made available at £50 ($132) a cycle, putting it in reach of some parts of the developing world. Cloned babies are likely to become a reality, scientists say.
The most exciting area is stem-cell research using embryos from which it is hoped new tissue can be grown for the treatment of conditions including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.
This is the new scientific frontier on which researchers now stand - the stage is set for further advance and further controversy.
- INDEPENDENT
