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25th birthday for test-tube baby
LONDON, England -- The first test-tube baby is celebrating her 25th birthday, as supporters of fertilization treatments mark a landmark in medical science. More than 1 million babies have been born through in vitro fertilization (IVF) since Louise Brown was born in Oldham, northern England, on July 25, 1978. But as Brown, now a postal worker, celebrates her birthday with a party, campaigners are noting the progress made since Dr. Robert Edwards and Dr. Patrick Steptoe achieved their breakthrough in Cambridge. "It's always frustrating, but I think it has improved inordinately in the last 20 years," Dr. Francoise Shenkin, a fertility expert from the University of London told The Associated Press. Fertility experts met in London Thursday to discuss advances, including new stem cell techniques. "I am certain that in the long term we will be able to help everyone," Australian professor Alan Trounson told a news conference. An infertile couple now has a 20 percent chance of having a baby after a cycle of IVF, says the British Fertility Society. That is about the same chance that healthy couples have of conceiving naturally each menstrual cycle, so fertility techniques have restored the overall odds to normal, society chairwoman Dr. Alison Murdoch told AP. However, one in six couples struggle to become parents and scientists have failed to fix the biggest problem -- a woman's age. "We can't turn the clock back," Murdoch said. "It's a real tragedy when I get someone who comes along at 37 and they've been busy spending the last seven years of their lives getting the house right, getting the job sorted out and going on holidays and thinking 'OK, we'll have a family now,' and they've left it too late." The woman's age is the biggest factor in the success of IVF, experts say. Success rates vary across clinics, but if the mother is under 35, the chance of a baby per cycle may be more than 40 percent. By the age of 45, however, that drops to less than 1 percent. Researchers are trying to beat the age problem by egg freezing, harvesting immature eggs and keeping them dormant until they are needed, and by creating artificial eggs from stem cells. But so far no solutions have been found. Another barrier to couples can be cost. In some European nations treatment is free. But in the U.S., one cycle of treatment is on average more than $12,000, AP reports. California High School teacher Shari Harvey, 50, had a test-tube baby, Justin, when she was 35, then conceived triplets -- Clarissa, Cameron and Nathan -- through IVF two years later.
She says she would not have been able to afford the treatment without insurance. But even with costs covered, she says it is a exhausting experience. "There's something you need to do every day, whether it's go have blood drawn or a hormone shot," she told AP. "It's such an all-consuming thing that it's emotionally draining." Another IVF mother, Briton Rachel Staines, told CNN: "You have to go into it with your eyes open. "You have to be certain it's what you want to do because of the financial aspect, because of the fact it is quite a long process as opposed to natural conception, and it is quite heart-rending. "You do go through an awful lot but I would definitely do it again because we've had two successes so far." Copyright 2003 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
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You do go through an awful lot but I would definitely do it again
