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(sz) Israeli scientists say that they have extracted and matured eggs from girls as young as five to freeze for possible fertility treatment in the future. The team said that the technique could give child cancer sufferers left infertile by chemotherapy treatment a shot at parenthood later in life.
The team took eggs from a group of girls between the ages of five and 10 who had cancer. They artificially matured the eggs to make them viable and froze them. Experts had previously thought the eggs of pre-pubescent girls could not be used in this way.
Dr Ariel Revel, from Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem, is to present the team’s findings at a fertility conference in Lyon, France, this week. more…

From: »The BBC«

(cz) The first test-tube baby created from an egg matured in the laboratory and then frozen has been born in Canada, in a breakthrough offering hope to women with cancer and others unsuited to normal IVF treatment.
The baby is doing well and another three women are pregnant by the same method, researchers told a medical meeting in Lyon, France, on Monday.
Conventional in vitro fertilization (IVF) involves using high doses of expensive hormone drugs to stimulate the ovaries to produce multiple mature eggs.
But some women seeking to preserve their child-bearing capacity may not have enough time to undergo ovarian stimulation or may have a condition that makes it dangerous, such as hormone-sensitive breast cancer.
For these patients, ripening eggs in the lab — so-called in vitro maturation (IVM) — makes sense. Until now, however, scientists have never frozen, thawed and then fertilized a lab-matured egg. This multi-step process increases significantly the flexibility of fertility treatment. more…

From: »Reuters« (Canada)

(sz) Laws on fertility treatment should be standardised across the European Union to deter ‘fertility tourism’, a leading expert has said.
Professor Paul Devroey said current disparities in rules meant infertile couples often had to travel to get the fertility treatment they wanted. But he warned this was not always based on good science. Professor Devroey was speaking a European Society for Human Reproduction and Embyrology meeting in Lyon, France.
He said some countries, including the UK, adopt a liberal, science-based approach to fertility treatments. However, others, he warned, either dismiss or misuse scientific information. Professor Devroey, chairman of ESHRE, warned such an approach could increase the risk to the mother and the child.
The variation in basic ethical principles in Europe is so great that it would be very difficult to find a common ground (Professor Bill Ledger, University of Sheffield) more…

From:»The BBC«

(sz) IVF doctors last night called for resignations and a full investigation by the Department of Health after the high court ruled that the fertility regulator had unlawfully obtained warrants to search a clinic on the eve of a Panorama documentary. The British Fertility Society, representing the doctors, said the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority had lost the trust of the clinics it regulates following the high court victory of Mohamed Taranissi, the controversial IVF doctor who has the best success rates in the country.
HFEA officials, accompanied by police, searched one of Mr Taranissi’s clinics in January on the eve of the BBC programme. The HFEA has had a year-long argument with Mr Taranissi about the licensing of his two London clinics. But the court ruled that the information its chief executive, Angela McNab, gave to magistrates to obtain the warrant was inadequate. The HFEA will pay an estimated £1.3m in costs.
Professor Robert Winston, of Imperial College, said: “[This is] further evidence of the complete incompetence of the HFEA and the need for the workings of this organisation to be radically reviewed. This situation will do nothing at all to protect the interests of vulnerable patients. With the loss of this amount of public money, the chief executive and previous chair will presumably need to consider their positions.” more…

From: »The Guardian«

(wz) Inequality in Treatment Access Remains a Key Issue for Infertile Couples Across Europe
Medical, political and demographical experts drawn from across the globe have come together this week to discuss the ongoing challenges associated with access to infertility. Leaders in their respective fields are calling for infertility to be recognised as a serious, growing European human, health and economic issue where barriers to treatment need to be lifted.
The consequences of an ageing and declining population and the socio-economic issues that come with them warrant serious consideration. One strategy for addressing these concerns is increasing access to assisted reproductive technology (ART) to help infertile couples achieve their desired family size. European economic analysis of ART policy has shown this strategy to be cost-effective when compared with existing pronatalist policies.
Infertile couples and infertility advocacy groups have long campaigned for the access to ART. This view is supported by a growing number of politicians who feel that ART warrants serious political support, not only in putting the case of infertility firmly on the healthcare agenda, but also in addressing the issue of an ageing population. more…

From: »ITNews« (Italy)

(wz) Giving patients access to fertility treatment will help stem the declining birth rate in Europe - say demographic health experts.
Delegates meeting at the ‘State of the A.R.T’ conference organised by the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology were told that with the current decline in population size, it is estimated that by 2050 one-in-three Europeans will be aged over 65 years.
A total fertility rate of around 2.1 children per woman is needed, it was claimed, to maintain the current population; and yet birth rates are on average closer to 1.50 children per woman.
Speaking at the conference Professor Paul Devroey, of the Centre for Reproductive Medicine, Free University of Brussels, said: “Research published this month supports the trend showing that European countries that have greater funding for and access to Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) have more live births through this treatment option. more…

From: »OnMedica«

(cz) President Bush this week once again refused to sign legislation into law that would have allowed federally funded scientists to do more research on embryonic stem cells. In rejecting the measure, Bush claimed that if it “became law it would compel American taxpayers … to support the deliberate destruction of human embryos.” No way, he said, would he “allow our nation to cross this moral line.”
Instead, he said that scientists should focus on research that does not require the destruction of dot-size embryos, such as on stem cells from adults and umbilical cord blood.
Proponents of the legislation were outraged, fuming that the only thing immoral was for the president to stand in the way of research that might one day lead to new therapies, cures even, for painful and debilitating disorders like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, diabetes, heart disease, cancer….
They pointed out that the bill–which sets up ethical and reporting guidelines–would only permit federally funded scientists to experiment on stem cells extracted from embryos slated to be discarded by in vitro fertility (IVF) clinics that donors no longer want or need and choose to donate. more…

From: »Scientific American«