First test tube baby is 30 years old

Artificial insemination: First German retort baby celebrates his 30th birthday

04/17/2012

Even thirty years after the birth of the first test tube baby artificial fertilization is sometimes still controversial. While the advocates describe in vitro fertilization as a great opportunity for unfulfilled desire for children, critics see an ethically problematic intervention here.

About thirty years ago, the first artificial insemination using the method of in vitro fertilization was carried out at the Erlangen Gynecological Clinic under the direction of Professor Siegfried Trotnow. On April 16, 1982, the first German retort baby saw the light of day. The little Oliver was born by caesarean section and weighed 4150 grams at birth. The successful completion of the artificial insemination was considered a sensation and had an enormous media interest, but also triggered a lot of criticism.

First test tube baby caused considerable media hype
Yesterday, Germany's first baby retort celebrates its thirtieth birthday. Oliver is the living proof of the first artificial insemination carried out in Germany outside the womb. The so-called in-vitro fertilization was described at that time as a medical breakthrough and as an opportunity for unintentionally childless. However, there was also a lot of criticism, especially from the church side. Here, doctors would play God and intervene in natural human reproduction, so the reproach. The now deceased head of the responsible research team, Professor Siegfried Trotnow, was not only exposed to considerable resistance in professional circles, but also in the general population, artificial insemination triggered a controversial discussion. The media interest after the birth of the first German retort baby was correspondingly high. Later, Prof. Trotnow reported on a huge media hype at the „Reporters for days besieged the clinic“ have. Many media representatives even tried „At the time, the media frenzy was foreseeable, as the birth of the world's first retort baby, Louise Brown, in England had already given rise to considerable controversy over the ethical problems of artificial manure Fertilization led.

Artificial inseminations today medical everyday life
Thirty years after the birth of the first German retort baby artificial insemination outside the womb in this country is a relatively common medical intervention, which still leads to discussions, but the mind is no longer boil as high as in the 1980s. Numerous unintentionally childless couples could be assisted with an artificial insemination and the ethical concerns were eliminated in many areas. Today, artificial inseminations are in different forms, according to the Erlangen gynecological clinic „a worldwide accepted and practiced form of therapy for childless couples“, where about 10,000 children are born in Germany each year, who were conceived with the help of reproductive medicine. Accordingly, the hubbub of the birth of the first test tube baby for today's director of the gynecological clinic at the University Hospital Erlangen, Professor Matthias Beckmann, is no longer an issue. The various forms of artificial insemination have long been part of everyday medical practice at the Erlangen Women's Hospital.

Help with unfulfilled desire for children
If the intimate and personal desire for children is not in „Fulfillment goes, many questions and doubts exist or even fears can develop“, reports the University Center for Reproductive Medicine Franconia (UFF) on its website. The Gynecological Endocrinology and Reproductive Medicine of the Gynecological Clinic Erlangen therefore offers a variety of examinations together with the UFF, „which are necessary to clarify the unfulfilled wish for a child“, such as semen analysis and cycle monitoring. After identifying the causes of the reproductive problems, different methods of increasing fertility can be used, or those affected directly opt for artificial insemination. According to the reproductive medical profession, this is relatively straightforward in most cases and is far from being such a critically discussed topic today as the first retort baby was born in Germany.

About the retort baby Oliver, however, is little known except the circumstances of his birth. The now 30-year-old lives in an Upper Franconian village with 3,000 inhabitants and has hitherto strictly avoided contact with the media. Although everyone in the small community knows who Germany's first test tube baby is, personal contact here is rare. Oliver lives rather withdrawn and participate little in public life, so the information of other residents. (Fp)

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Picture credits: Petra Dietz