This episode of the Progress Educational Trust (PET) podcast marks 40 years since the announcement – in Australia – that a child had been born following egg donation for the first time.

The discussion is chaired by Sarah Norcross (Director of PET), with contributions from:

⚫ Professor Alan Trounson (IVF pioneer responsible for the first successful egg donation)

⚫ Professor Catherine Mills (Head of the School of Philosophical, Historical and International Studies at Monash University)

⚫ Stephen Page (Director of the law firm Page Provan)

⚫ Professor Nicky Hudson (Director of the Centre for Reproduction Research at De Montfort University)

November 1983 saw the birth, in Australia, of the world's first ever child conceived with a donor egg. For the first time in human history, it became meaningful to distinguish between a child's 'genetic' and 'gestational' mother.

Both the egg donor and the egg recipient were anonymous fertility patients, treated by a team based at Monash University. Announcement of the birth was delayed until January 1984, at the egg recipient's request and also to allow time to confirm the donor's genetic contribution via testing.

The team responsible at Monash was headed by the late Professor Carl Wood (1929-2011), together with Professor Alan Trounson. They initially described the landmark as 'embryo donation', but because the donor egg was fertilised by sperm from the recipient's husband, what they achieved actually constitutes egg donation in today's terminology.

Prior to this, Professors Wood and Trounson and their colleagues had already made several pioneering contributions to the early development of IVF, working concurrently with the UK team responsible for the birth of the world's first IVF baby.

Within weeks of the January 1984 announcement, it was reported that a second child conceived with a donor egg had been born, following work by a separate team in the USA. Other examples of successful egg donation then followed.

In this discussion, Professor Alan Trounson and other experts explore the science, medicine, law and ethics of egg donation, from its beginnings more than 40 years ago to the present day and beyond.

PET is grateful to Gedeon Richter UK Ltd for supporting this discussion. Gedeon Richter had no input into the content or speaker selection.

PET is also grateful to Jon Nicoll, who created the opening and closing music for its podcast.

Register at https://www.progress.org.uk/events/upcoming-events/ for upcoming PET events.