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(wz) Bringing cheer to the numerous childless couples in the country, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi has become the first government hospital to launch a state-of-the-art in-vitro fertility (IVF) clinic.
“The IVF clinic was on the anvil for a long time. But we have finally set it up. It is the only government hospital in the country that is offering such a costly treatment,” Sunita Mittal, Head of Department of the Gynecology at AIIMS, said.
The setting-up of the clinic, which was given a go-ahead by the Health Ministry, last year, took time because of lack of space and other facilities.
The clinic was finally carved out after the doctors took initiative and used the space they could do without in the existing Gyne ward.
“We didn’t want to take any chance with the equipment. We waited, but we didn’t compromise. Today, we have state-of- the-art machinery,” said Mittal, who took a keen interest in setting up the clinic and would head it. more…

From: »The Hindustan Times«

(wz) Vindana, the Reproductive Health Centre that has passed many milestones, including its 101st baby being born on Friday, has advanced steadily in what it has to offer since its inception in 1998.
In a cosy home many miles from Colombo, while a family prepares to celebrate the sixth birthday of a little girl on July 1 with a “small party”, in Colombo on Friday, a young mother experiences the joy of childbirth.
What is the link between the bubbly nearly-six girl and Friday’s newborn……both are inextricably linked to Vindana, which helps “mimic nature”. The six-year-old is Vindana’s very first baby and the newborn the 101st. Both of them and all the others in between have been born through the process called in-vitro fertilization or in lay terms known as “test tube” babies.
A fine record within six years and though Vindana has the atmosphere of a family gathering in its waiting room than that of a clinic and the walls are plastered with photographs of smiling babies, some alone and two together, this Reproductive Health Centre has passed many milestones, including many firsts in the country, since its inception in 1998.
“She’s a tall girl,” says Prof. Harsha Seneviratne, smilingly recalling a visit paid by the couple who are the proud parents of the first Vindana baby, along with their daughter. Harking back to the centre’s beginnings he says that although Sri Lanka was into in-vitro fertilization (IVF) technology with the expertise of foreign doctors, the technology was not being retained in the country.
“The need was to keep the technology within and when the time was right and our embryologist was confident that she could handle the process, we started it at Vindana,” he says. The pregnancy and birth on July 1, 2002 of the first such baby were managed by a totally Sri Lankan team. more…

From: »The Sunday Times« (Sri Lanka)

(wz) As MPs prepare to debate a Bill updating the law on embryo research, Science Editor Roger Highfield examines the complex issues at stake
What do we mean by being human? At what point does a life wink into being? What choices can be exercised at that moment, and by whom?
Should we allow DNA from more than one person to be used to create a child? Should we allow a deaf couple to take action to ensure their son is also deaf?
These are profound issues in terms of science, law and morality - and this is why the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, due to be debated this month in Parliament, is among the most divisive to have come before MPs.
Indeed, it is so controversial that the Prime Minister has been forced to allow a free vote on the most contentious elements.
The Bill deals with experiments on the human embryo, and the way in which infertility treatments are regulated. Rationalists may claim it is simply a way for legislation to catch up with the latest scientific developments.
But where these fundamental issues are concerned, nothing is that simple. The Bill’s opponents, mostly from the pro-life community, say it will lead to the creation of “monsters”, and even sanctions “the ultimate incest” - the creation of eggs and sperm from the same stem cells, which are then used to produce an embryo.
Scientists and patient groups see only the hope these technologies offer to the ill and infertile.
As ever with legislation, the devil is in the detail. So, with the help of James Lawford Davies, a lawyer at the London-based firm Clifford Chance and lecturer in law and medicine at the Institute for Human Genetics at Newcastle University, I have taken a closer look at what exactly is proposed. more…

From: »The Daily Telegraph«

(sz) IVF does not lead to an early menopause or more severe menopausal symptoms, one of the first studies into the long-term effects of the treatment suggests.
Some 200 women who were among the first to undergo IVF, which in the 1980s involved a much heavier drugs regime, took part in the UK study.
At an average of just over 50, the age at which their menopause started was comparable with the national average.
The Bourn Hall Clinic findings are on Reproductive Bio Medicine Online.
The suggestion that IVF could bring on the menopause early is based on the fear that stimulating the ovaries to generate the eggs required for treatment might speed up their decline.
While doctors have long since dismissed this notion - noting for instance that preventing ovulation through the contraceptive pill does not, by the same logic, delay the menopause - the clinical evidence has been lacking. more…

From: »The BBC«

(sz) Women in Chicago hoping to have an Asian baby through in vitro fertilization may find the road to motherhood longer than they expected. Some local egg donor agencies advertise for donors of Asian heritage, but finding those donors proves to be difficult.
“There is much more demand for Asian donors than there is availability of Asian donors,” said Dr. Richard Sherbahn, founder of the Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago. “Our list of available egg donors will generally include many Caucasian and Hispanic women, a few African American women, and sometimes one Asian.”
Asian couples, like every other ethnic group, typically seek an ethnic match when considering in vitro fertilization. This makes it even more difficult for a couple to find a donor agency that can provide them with eggs.
“Quite often the Asian couples have a strong preference to use an Asian donor of the same ethnicity as their own,” Sherbahn said. “For example, when we had both a Japanese and a Korean woman on our egg donor list we had a Chinese couple that ended up using an egg donor agency in Los Angeles to find a Chinese donor for them.”
“We look for donors [by] nationalities,” said Mary Fowler, in vitro fertilization coordinator at the Center for Human Reproduction in Oakbrook Terrace. “We don’t have as many Asian egg donors, so when they come along we try to grab them as we can. We have a lot of Asian recipients who have been waiting a long time.” more…

From: »Medill Reports«

(wz) Gary Culliton speaks to a top Harvard scientist who claims a legal ‘black hole’ means Ireland is missing out on a huge research opportunity.
The Irish Council for Bioethics this week launched its report on stem cell research, which has increased pressure on the government to clarify the legal situation in this area and in relation to in vitro fertilisation.
The central question is not ‘when is the embryo alive or human?’, Dr Stephen Sullivan, an Irish-born Fellow at Harvard University, told Irish Medical Times. “It is clearly both. But then again, so is liver tissue used for transplants. Rather the question is ‘is this embryo a person?’. My personal opinion is an embryo that is made by fusing an egg and sperm in a dish is not a person. Without access to a womb, it can never develop into a pregnancy or a foetus, which I do consider to be human when the central nervous system develops, and there is pain perception and early consciousness.”
Previous publishings of the Council have made a distinction between pre-implantation and post-implantation embryos (only the latter should have the legal status of ‘unborn’, the Council believes). “Decisions about embryonic research now facing Ireland were made in most European countries twenty years ago. This step is long overdue,” Dr Sullivan said.
Prof Frank Barry, of University College Galway’s Remedi Institute, says all of Irish society must decide on the issue, not just a small group. Prof Barry believes that embryonic stem cell research is likely to be more effective than adult stem cell research, in relation to neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s and diseases of the pancreas, because of the developmental biology of these cells.
There needs to be clear legal guidelines for IVF, with a view to securing the rights of the women involved, Dr Sullivan believes. “The hoax bombs sent to IVF clinics and death threats to Ministers have left people quite scared.” more…

From: »The Irish Medical Times«

(cz) Scientists say it is highly unlikely same-sex couples would be able to use lab-created egg and sperm as a way to create their own biological child.
And despite advances, it could be 20 years before the science can routinely create human pregnancies, a global team of researchers and ethicists has said.
There are high hopes so-called artificial gametes could be used by those who find themselves infertile.
But the ethical debate is far ahead of the science, the Hinxton Group warns.
The consortium of scientists, academics and lawyers from 14 countries say it is nonetheless vital that the public and policy makers engage with a field which has the power to spark such controversy.
Artificial gametes are sperm and eggs created from stem cells. There are a variety of potential sources, including early embryos left-over from IVF to cells taken from the skin or bone marrow of a would-be parent.
In the UK, legislation currently allows artificial gametes in research, but bans it for creating a human pregnancy.
However, amendments which would lift this ban - if and when the science was ready - have been tabled to a major fertility bill which is about to go before parliament. more…

From: »BBC News«

(wz) A glimmer of hope has been offered to women desperate for help conceiving a child, as North Yorkshire health bosses have pledged to reconsider swingeing IVF funding cuts.
The Press has learned North Yorkshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) has decided to review its near-total suspension of IVF treatment for couples.
At the end of 2006, the debt-ridden PCT implemented urgent money-saving measures to balance its books. These included suspending IVF treatment - except in cases where the woman was aged 39 years and six months or older and egg collection could be achieved before she turned 40.
Prior to the cuts, women could join a waiting list of about 18-months for NHS treatment, before receiving one cycle of IVF. Many PCTs offer two, or even three, cycles of free treatment.
Since then the only alternative has been for couples to spend £3,500 per cycle on private treatment.
But in a letter to Selby MP John Grogan, PCT chief executive Dr Janet Soo-Chung has pledged to reconsider the funding cuts.
Dr Soo-Chung said: “I am able to confirm that the PCT is planning to make good the shortfall in those clinical areas which have been affected by the financial recovery plan, for example IVF services, and the PCT recognises that we need to move this position forward in 2000/09.
The plan is to address restrictions around the commissioning of IVF services within the financial year 2008/09. more…

From: »The Press«

(wz) A generational and class divide over the suitability of single women and lesbians as IVF mothers has been exposed by the Times/Populus poll.
Public opinion as a whole is opposed to the proposal to change the requirement that fertility clinics consider a child’s need for a father before treating patients to a “need for supportive parenting”.
Extensive support for the move among young people, however, suggests that attitudes towards IVF for lesbians and single women are changing.
The over-55s are strongly against the plans, with 50 per cent saying the law should not be changed and 19 per in favour. Among young people, however, the findings are reversed: 44 per cent of 18 to 34-year-olds back the reform and 26 per cent oppose it.
The poll also found significant differences in opinion between social groups: though all classes came out against the measure, opposition was strongest among manual workers.
Conservative voters are also much more likely to reject the reform, by a net 28 points, while Liberal Democrats support it by a 14-point margin. Labour voters are split, with 32 per cent in favour and 36 per cent against. more…

From: »The Times«

(sz) Mothers’ health may be put at risk in the quest for high pregnancy rates at British IVF clinics, warn experts
The UK has one of the worst fertility treatment safety records in Europe, according to new figures published by the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology.
The chances of developing serious complications are up to four times higher in the UK than in other countries carrying out similar numbers of fertility treatments. Experts warn that women’s lives are being jeopardised in order to improve the numbers of successful pregnancies.
Britain has the highest levels of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS), the most serious and potentially fatal side-effect of IVF treatment, the figures show. At least two women with OHSS have died in the past three years, and there are fears of more cases going unrecorded.
Complications from IVF treatment from the use of drugs to stimulate the production of eggs can range from severe bloating and vomiting, to kidney failure, and even death in rare cases. Fertility experts say they fear many serious cases are not being recorded, because women go straight to casualty or end up in intensive care, the cause of their symptoms going unnoticed by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA).
Germany carried out in 2003 almost three times as many IVF cycles – implantations of fertilised embryos – as the UK, researchers found, but the UK had nearly three times more cases of OHSS. In 2004, France carried out nearly twice as many IVF cycles as Britain, but its OHSS rate was a quarter of that in UK clinics. more…

From: »The Independent«