A Child Against All Odds - Hardcover

Winston, Professor Lord Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0593054946 ISBN 13: 9780593054949

Publisher: Bantam Press, 2006

Synopsis

Compared to the famously fecund rabbit, for whom a single act of coitus has a 90 per cent chance of creating a litter of up to 12 rabbits, humans are very infertile animals. Here in the UK, the average chance of conception is about 18 per cent per month. And in 98 per cent of cases, successful conception leads only to the birth of a single infant. It is unsurprising then that huge efforts have been made to increase our fertility. In vitro fertilization, first attempted one hundred years ago, has now become big business. Market forces, combined with the desperation of many couples to fulfill their biological imperative, have pushed doctors and scientists closer to the boundaries of what is desirable or ethical. And as we are increasingly able to access and control the embryo, the opportunities of altering human genetics to eradicate disease, but also to change human characteristics, becomes a real, and to some, frightening possibility. "A Child Against All Odds" is a ground-breaking book for Robert Winston as it falls squarely in his area of expertise. It combines his work at Hammersmith Hospital as one of the country's leading fertility specialists, with a hard-hitting, sometimes humorous, often controversial look at the scientific, social and ethical background of man's struggle to discover and control the secrets of reproduction. Drawing on personal and professional experience, it is the definitive account of modern reproductive technology from a practitioner who has spent his professional life at the forefront of this most fascinating and emotive area of science.

About this title

About the Author

Robert Winston is one of the country's best-known scientists. As Professor of Fertility Studies at Imperial College, University of London, and Director of NHS Research and Development and Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at Hammersmith Hospital, he has made advances in fertility medicine and been a leading voice in the debate on genetic engineering. His television series, including Your Life in Their Hands, Making Babies, The Human Body, The Human Mind and The Story of God and have made him a household name across Britain. He became a life peer in 1995.

From the Inside Flap

Compared to the famously fecund rabbit, in which species a single act of coitus has a 90% chance of producing up to 12 rabbits, humans are very infertile animals. In the UK, the average chance of conception is about 18% per month and in 98% of cases, successful conception leads to the birth of just one infant. And infertility is very common indeed more than one in ten couples experience difficulty in conceiving.

In vitro fertilisation is a difficult, demanding treatment and very often pregnancy is achieved against all the odds. It has become big business as market forces, combined with the desperation of many couples, push us close to the boundaries of what is ethical. Moreover, with the scientist s increasing ability gain access to the embryo, there are opportunities to alter human genetics to eradicate disease. And with this comes the potential to change human characteristics, a real and to many people, frightening possibility.

Robert Winston has an international reputation for his scientific and clinical work in human infertility and has been responsible for many of the advances described in this book. It is a hard-hitting, sometimes humorous look at the historical, scientific, social and ethical background of man's struggle to control the secrets of reproduction. In it, he argues controversially that we have got the regulation of these technologies badly wrong. Drawing on personal and professional experience, it is the definitive account of modern reproductive technology from a practitioner who has spent his professional life at the forefront of this most fascinating and emotive area of science. It will be highly engaging for the general reader, but this book also is essential reading for all those considering infertility and IVF treatments, and the difficulties they raise.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bantam Press
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0593054946
• ISBN 13: 9780593054949
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 398