IVF pioneer Mary Warnock, 94, dies

PHILOSOPHER Mary Warnock, who backed euthanasia and allowed research on human embryos, has died aged 9 .

Baroness Warnock was appointed by the Government to look at IVF a few years after the first ‘test tube baby’ Louise Brown was born, and set up the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to oversee the industry.

She also brought in the 1 -day limit for experimenting on human embryos, and chaired a Government committee which said children with special needs should be taught in mainstream schools.

Lady Warnock was a keen supporter of euthanasia, and controversially said in 2008 that elderly people with dementia were ‘wasting’ NHS resources . She was also known for barbed comments about Margaret Thatcher, saying the thenprime minister had ‘a total lack of understanding of what universities are about’.

Her family said Lady Warnock, a former mistress of Girton College in Cambridge, died at her home following a fall.