Abstract

In association with the ‘Books and Babies’ exhibition at the Cambridge University Library, the Wellcome Trust funded Generation to Reproduction project presents a debate on the history of scientific and ethical issues surrounding in vitro fertilisation. A panel of experts will give short introductions before opening up to the floor for discussion and finishing with a vote.

In order to focus on historical perspectives, the debate question will be framed around the UK Medical Research Council’s refusal to fund a five-year grant application to support IVF research that was submitted to it in 1971 by Robert Edwards and Patrick Steptoe. A copy of a research paper on this MRC decision can be down loaded free of charge at: http://humrep.oxfordjournals.org/content/25/9/2157.abstract?sid=a5077e19-c16d-481e-aca3-5a648316490f

The subject of the debate will be:

‘If I had been on the MRC Committee in 1971, would I have funded IVF research?’

Panellists will include: Professor Peter Braude (Women’s Health, King’s College and Guy’s Hospital, London) Professor Sarah Franklin (Sociology, London School of Economics) Professor Martin H. Johnson (Reproductive Sciences, Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, Cambridge)

Chair: Dr Nick Hopwood (History and Philosophy of Science, Cambridge)