Reproductive Technology Essays - Fertility Medicine, Fertility

Reproductive Technology Reproductive Technology Technological development and the advancement of science constantly raises new political and legal challenges. We must promote scientific development, but at the same time we must also impose restrictions involving certain human and social values. Reproductive technology is one of the best examples of the challenges posed by the development of medical science and it's involvement with the law. Issues involved with Reproductive Technology include: Techniques, Morals and Ethics, and The Charter of Right and Freedoms. Reproduction is a fact of life, but it has always fascinated humans. Why did babies die? Why were some people sterile? How can childless couples be helped? To answer these questions scientists began research. This research began mostly in the late nineteenth century. However, some of the techniques used today have been used for hundreds of years. Artificial Insemination is the oldest known assisted reproductive technology. The first known cases of this type occurred in 1790. Many years of research were put into the development of In Vitro Fertilization. Following the research dealing with humans, scientists began with animals. The first successful transfer of an embryo which resulted into the birth of young was between two rabbits in 1891. During this time, many attempts were made to transfer embryos between mammals. Success was not achieved until the 1970s. Using mice proved to be an important advance because the similarity in the technique used for humans. Despite these similarities it was a long time before anyone achieved success in humans. Bob Edwards of the UK reported successful fertilization of human eggs in vitro in 1969. Upon finding a technique to retrieve the eggs, experiments were performed to determine the best time to retrieve the eggs, how long they should be incubated, and what conditions were most favourable for the embryos. The first ?test tube baby? whose name is Louise Brown, was born in 1978. Since the development of these techniques, many new technologies have been established. A total of 20,659 babies were born in 1996 (in the USA) using one of the following techniques: In vitro fertilization, gamete intra fallopian transfer, and zygote intra fallopian transfer. In vitro fertilization involves extracting a woman's eggs, fertilizing the eggs in the laboratory, and then transferring the resulting embryo(s) into the woman's uterus through the cervix. Gamete intra fallopian transfer is when a fiberoptic instrument called a laparoscope is used to help place the unfertilized eggs and sperm into the woman's fallopian tubes through small incisions in her abdomen. Zygote intra fallopian transfer involves fertilizing a woman's eggs in the laboratory and then using a laparoscope to help transfer the fertilized eggs into her fallopian tubes. There are a number of other techniques but they are not as popular and do not have a very high success rate. Other techniques have been used for specific reasons. Some parents who have children with blood disorders decide to have a ?test-tube baby? so that it can save their suffering child. ?Ellen Phillipson called a fertility clinic in Newcastle upon Tyne to discuss the possibility that a baby brother or sister could save her four-year-old daughter, Simone, who has Fanconi anemia?(NP-1). There is a very high demand for this type of reproduction technology. The first ?Designer Baby? is thought to be Adam Nash. ?Adam's parents selected their son's embryo from among others in a petri dish in order to ensure it was free of his sister Molly's life-threatening blood disease, Franconi's anemia.?(NP-2) With all these new reproductive technologies becoming available to people, ethicists are popping up with questions on whether the developing child is harmed during the medical procedure. In the case with Adam Nash, he experienced no pain when donating his umbilical cord (since there are no known nerve terminals in the umbilical arteries). In future cases involving organ donation it will be hard to assess whether the donor child will be harmed. ?How will it be possible to assess whether a child from whom a kidney is removed would have been stronger and healthier had he or she not been subjected to an operation in infancy(NP-3) This question is highly controversial with the ethicists. But there is another concern that passes unnoticed by the ethicists. ?A human being's moral