Test-Tube Babies
25 Years and a Million Children Later, Questions Still Loom
The world's first test-tube baby, Louise Brown, all grown up. Adrian Arbib/Corbis hide caption
Brown, called the "miracle baby," made her debut on American television in 1979 on The Donahue Show. Bettmann/Corbis hide caption
The world's first test-tube baby, Louise Brown, turns 25 this week. When in vitro fertilization was first introduced, people were alarmed about the prospect of creating embryos in the laboratory. But a million babies later, the procedure has turned out to be much safer than many imagined. However, as NPR's Joe Palca reports, scientists still aren't sure how safe the procedure is.