A THOUGHT-provoking lecture on the ethics of techniques available to treat infertility and those with genetically inherited diseases was held recently at The Wharf.

Dr Peter Brinsden gave the talk for The Wharf's lunchtime lectures — and two people, who Dr Brinsden had helped to have children 28 years ago with IVF treatment, were in the audience.

Dr Brinsden was medical director of Bourn Hall Clinic, Cambridge, from 1989 to 2006 — a leading centre for the treatment of fertility problems, where about 10,000 babies have been conceived using IVF and other assisted conception treatments.

He began his lecture with the first baby conceived in vitro — Louise Brown in 1978.

Two members of the audience had been helped to have twins, now 28 years of age, by IVF at Bourn Hall and were able to give the audience an account of their experience.

Since that time other techniques have been developed, including IVF surrogacy, stem cell technology, mito-chondrial DNA and even talk of genome editing and 'designer babies'.

A lively discussion followed the lecture when Dr Brinsden asked the audience whether they thought some of these technological advances in human reproduction were ethical or not.