The ideal age for women to have babies is around 25 but women nowadays are much healthier and can have babies when they are 46, 47 or 48, Prof Robert Winston tells Sylvia Thompson
One of the world leaders in the field of In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) and reproductive genetics, Robert Winston, professor of Fertility Studies at Imperial College, London, will speak on the topic of ageing and human reproduction at a public lecture in Trinity College Dublin tonight.
"I will explain the biological processes of ageing and look at how human beings have a relatively short period of fertility compared to other mammals," said Prof Winston, who is also renowned for his popularisation of science through BBC television documentaries such as Child of Our Timeand The Human Body.
Winston believes the role of reproductive technology is to follow society's trends rather than guide them. "Women are delaying childbearing until they are older and the role of reproductive technology is to find solutions which will help men and women to reproduce when they are having difficulties," he says.
He does not believe that society has a role in changing social behaviour (ie to encourage women to have children when they are in their most fertile years).
"It's far too complex. I'm sceptical about trying to advise society about changing its social behaviour. For instance, we are in the midst of an obesity crisis and there's no evidence that any government has managed to stop the rising levels of diabetes that are a consequence of obesity," he says.
"The ideal age for women to have babies is when they are about 25 but women nowadays are much healthier and can have babies when they are 46, 47 or 48," he says. Prof Winston "doesn't buy" the argument that women who have babies later pay the price of exhaustion.
"I'm in my late 60s now and I'm working harder thawhen I was in my 50s so I don't agree with the idea of reduced energy levels as you get older," he says.
Winston also argues that the popular term "designer babies" is a bad one and gives the wrong impression of what reproductive genetics offers couples. "Designer babies are an impossibility. The idea of them sends shivers down people's spines.
"What reproductive genetics does is it offers couples with a known risk of having a baby with a genetic disease to have pre-implantation genetic diagnosis. It's a rare technology whose success is measured in hundreds, not thousands of babies," he explains. Winston's work in the Department of Reproductive Medicine at Hammersmith Hospital in London has enabled couples with a history of a genetic disease to have children free of that disease.
Winston says that the closest thing so far to a so-called "designer baby" was the 2004 case in which a couple selected an embryo, created in a fertility laboratory so that the new baby could provide a tissue match for their son with a potentially fatal blood disorder.
That case only happened after a landmark ruling by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, a British regulatory body.
Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD), the practice of testing embryos for conditions such as Huntington's disease, haemophilia and cystic fibrosis, is being used increasingly in Europe.
Last month, a report from the European Commission's Joint Research Centre stated that guidelines are urgently needed for the counselling of patients who opt to screen their embryos - created by IVF - for serious genetic disorders.
"Genetic counselling is part of the treatment given to couples who receive PGD," says Winston. However, the European Commission report stated that it is not always clear whether such counselling is always given before treatment and particularly following treatment.
Winston has previously argued for better regulation and more research into IVF. Specifically, he has called for research into the effects of freezing on embryos, the incidence of babies being born with a low birth weight and the rates of defects for IVF babies.
On the related issue of stem-cell research, Winston believes it offers the prospect of helping the treatment of a wide range of degenerative disorders.
The professor's own recent research projects include looking at how human genes can be transplanted into pigs to make their organs suitable for donation back to humans.
Too Old to Reproduce? is the title of Prof Robert Winston's lecture in the Edmund Burke Theatre, Arts Building, Trinity College Dublin tonight, at 6.30pm. Admission is free.