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(sz) Director, Reproductive Medicine Associates, Troy, Michigan, USA, Dr Tariq Ahmad Shah, underlined the need to set up an In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) centre in Kashmir so that childless couples are evaluated and causes established at proper time. Dr Shah was speaking at the symposium, “Infertility Update-2008”, organised by the department of Urology and Endocrinology, Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Soura here today. “It is an irony the state is without an IVF centre,” Dr Shah said. “Government should take immediate measures to set up IVF centres to save people from undertaking arduous journeys outside the state.”
Current estimates, based on the study conducted by the department of Endocrinology, SKIMS, suggest that around 15.7% of women in Kashmir who are currently of childbearing age will never have a child, if they do not seek clinical intervention.
Dr Shah while guiding along the path of achieving a pregnancy, took the audience step-by-step through the causes, investigations and infertility treatment options, as well as assisted reproductive technologies, such as the IVF, their success rates and ethical aspects involved. “Unfortunately, infertility is not regarded as a disease here, hence the delay in consulting a clinician and hence the treatment,” he said. “With the advent and advancement of technology available at present, the success rate to ward off childlessness is almost 50 to 60 per cent.”
He stressed the need to involve the print and electronic media, civil societies and religious scholars to spread awareness and do away with the misconceptions regarding the techniques available today. “It is important to involve religious scholars in order to adopt a more rational approach towards the problem of infertility,” he said.
“The critics of IVF are bound, of course, to draw attention to the fact of infertility. But it seems that, often, they fail to convey the scale of despair and courage shown by those who it most cruelly affects. There’s no bigger happiness in the life of a married couple to have a child, after all.”
Director SKIMS, Dr Hamid Zargar, a reputed endocrinologist, elaborately dealt with the infertility issue in his presentation. He said: “The magnitude of infertility, its psychological and economic impact on its sufferers is awesome.” more…

From: »Greater Kashmir«

(wz) Anglo Arab Organisation, Royal Society of Medicine continue to host lecture program of senior Arab scientists in Britain.
The “In Vitro Fertilisation” lecture, hosted by the Anglo Arab Organisation (AAO) and the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) in London, turned into a platform for dialogue on how monotheistic religions and different cultures view this controversial issue.
The renowned Egyptian-born fertility specialist Dr. Mohammed Taranissi, gave a brief on the history of “test-tube children” and the evolution in this scientific endeavor to a large audience.
Taranissi highlighted the controversial issues in this type of scientific research and what could be determined by ethical values in every society.
Critical questions were asked by Arab and Western specialists as well as members of the curious audience who are still exploring the aspects of generating artificial embryos, using some of them and destroying others.
Taranissi gave his point of view on the subject from the scientific perspective, pointing out that the generation of embryos and its damage occur naturally, adding “the work of doctors and scientists proves what is already happening.” more...

From: »MiddleEastOnline«

(wz) United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan has turned down a draft national law on in-vitro fertilization (IVF) expressing concern over a clause he found discriminatory.
Sheikh Khalifa condemned as discriminatory a clause in the draft law, which called for the appointment of at least one Muslim IVF specialist among the staff of every IVF centre across the country, the Gulf News reported.
“The clause not only contradicts international conventions which prohibits all forms of discrimination but also contravenes Article 25 of the UAE Constitution which states that all persons are equal before the law, without distinction between citizens of the union in regard to race, nationality, religious belief or social status,” the report quoted the president as saying in a statement to the Federal National Council (FNC). Under IVF, egg cells are fertilized with sperm outside the woman’s womb.
The process involves hormonally controlling the ovulatory process, removing ova or eggs from the woman’s ovaries and letting sperm fertilize them in a fluid medium. The fertilized egg is then transferred to the patient’s uterus with the intent to establish a successful pregnancy.
In his statement to the FNC, Sheikh Khalifa also said that matters pertaining to the appointment of medical, technical and administrative staff of the IVF centres should be addressed by the executive statute of the law. more…

From: »mangalorean.com«

(sz) Do not expect a speedy Government decision about whether parents of children conceived by invitro fertilisation should have the right to choose the sex of their babies, was the message from two University of Otago academics yesterday [June, 19th – ed.].
They were commenting on the Bioethics Council report Who Gets Born? released this week which will recommend to the Government that there is insufficient reason to ban the use of sex selection for social reasons such as balancing the sexes in a family.
Human Genome Research Project director Prof Mark Henaghan said IVF babies accounted for only about 3% of births and not all parents would want to choose the sex of their babies.
It appeared there was no clear evidence of the choice doing any harm.
People who saw the recommendation as part of a slippery slope should be mindful such a slope did not have to be “whistled” down.
It could be taken in cautious steps, with negotiation and debate along the way.
The good thing about the issue being raised was that it would be debated around the tea table and people would become more comfortable with the idea.
Biomedical ethics Professor Grant Gillett said he could not see the sex selection issue being accepted as policy. more…

From: »Otago Daily Times« (New Zealand)

(sz) Germany’s reluctance to confront its Nazi past is holding back advances in human reproduction, it was claimed yesterday [28th/June/2004].
The shadow of the eugenics experiments of the 1930s and 1940s, in which hundreds of thousands were killed and many forcibly sterilised, has led to the strictest embryo research laws in Europe.
Dr Rolf Winau, professor of the history of medicine at the Charité medical faculty in Berlin, says too many doctors are unwilling to be “disturbed” by the dark times of German medicine.
“We have to study the history of medicine in the Nazi era so we understand the roots and mechanisms of an inhuman medicine and why over 45 per cent of all German physicians were Nazis and why some of them worked as researchers in concentration camps,” he said.
“We need to study the ‘Rassenhygiene’, the German version of eugenics, to show how far eugenic and racial thinking can go so that we can have it in mind when we discuss ethical questions on reproduction and fertility.
“If we do not, we face uncertainty, lack of information and confusion when considering ethical questions.”
Germany has some of the strictest laws on human reproduction in Europe and many techniques allowed elsewhere are banned.
These include pre-implantation genetic diagnosis which can detect genetic disease in an embryo before it is transferred to a woman, and the use of surplus embryos from IVF treatment for research. more…

From: »The Daily Telegraph«

(wz) China will reverse sterilisation procedures and offer in-vitro fertilisation for parents who lost their only children in the Sichuan earthquake.
The scheme is part of a relaxation of China’s strict one-child policy for victims of the May 12 disaster, Xinhua, the state news agency, reported.
Medical teams will be deployed into the affected region and will counsel parents and offer to help them start a new family, said Zhang Shikun, director of the science and technology bureau of the National Population and Family Planning Commission.
“The team, comprised of experts on child-bearing, will conduct surgery in the quake-hit areas to provide technological support for those wanting to give birth to another,” Mr Zhang said.
Operations to reverse sterilisation procedures would be performed and artificial reproduction technology offered.
Under the one-child policy, parents who lose a child or have a disabled child are allowed to have a second baby. more…

From: »The Daily Telegraph«

(wz) Why are we asking this now?
Reforms to the law governing embryology research being voted on by MPs yesterday and today will determine the direction of research in this area for a generation. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill was drawn to update the existing law, to keep pace with scientific advance and social changes, for the first time since it was introduced in 1990. Gordon Brown described the research at the weekend as a “moral endeavour” that could save thousands of lives.

What has it actually achieved so far?
Quite a lot. By far the most important advance has been in the practice of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) itself. In the quarter century since the birth of Louise Brown, the world’s first test-tube baby, in 1978, the technique of creating embryos in the laboratory and implanting them in the womb has come on by leaps and bounds. Two decades ago, success rates for IVF were around 14 live births per 100 cycles of treatment. They improved steadily through the 1990s and are now well over 20 per cent live births, with rates of over 40 per cent in younger age groups in some clinics. However, almost four patients are still disappointed for every one that goes home with a baby, so there is still a lot further to go.

How was it done?
By experimenting on human embryos, altering the culture medium in which they grow in the laboratory, learning how to spot healthy from unhealthy embryos, exploring new techniques for inserting the fertilised embryos back in the womb and inducing them to implant. Different drug regimes have been tried to stimulate egg production by the woman, prior to extraction and fertilisation, and different techniques used to achieve fertilisation, either in the laboratory or in the womb. more…

From: »The Independent«

(wz) Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende’s fourth cabinet has narrowly avoided its first internal crisis since coming to power in February 2007. In this instance the upset wasn’t caused by a major international issue such as Dutch participation in the NATO mission in Afghanistan, or an imminent economic danger like the spiralling oil price, but by the domestic practice of carrying out tests for certain genetic defects on embryos during In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) treatment.
This particular practice - known as Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis - was first developed in the United Kingdom in 1989. Since then, over 1000 babies worldwide have been born after undergoing this kind of testing, out of more than one million successful pregnancies to result from IVF treatment.
Dutch law prescribes that, prior to implantation in the mother’s womb, IVF embryos may only be tested for a very limited number of defects, all of which must inevitably lead to life-threatening illnesses. Tests for Muscular Dystrophy and Huntington’s disease are, for example, allowed under the current legislation. If an embryo is found to have genes which lead to such diseases it is not implanted in the womb.
The crisis in the Dutch political capital, The Hague, began on Monday 26 May when Deputy Health Minister Jet Bussemaker wrote to parliament announcing that, in future, it will also be possible to test IVF embryos for serious forms of hereditary cancer, including certain breast and intestinal cancers. more…

From: »Radio Netherlands«

(sz) Prof Charles Savona Ventura co-authored a report calling for State regulation of infertility treatment. But science and politics do not always make good bedfellows, in an issue fraught with moral complications.
A study published in the Malta Medical Journal shows that the unregulated and completely privatised administration of infertility treatment has led to an increase in the birth of triplets and quadruplets, a greater health risk to newborns.
The article, “Higher order multiple pregnancy outcomes in the Maltese islands 2000-2004”, published last March, is a wake-up call for action in a field which successive governments have left unregulated.
Reproductive technology, which includes the use of fertility pills and in vitro fertilisation, only accounts for 0.7% of single births. But the same methods were used in 28% of cases involving triplets and 50% of cases involving quadruplets.
The birth of triplets and quadruplets is considered by the medical profession as more prone to health risks due to the greater likelihood that these children will be born prematurely.
Charles Savona Ventura an associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery and one of the authors of the study believes that the state should start offering infertility treatments in the national health scheme.
One reason for state intervention in this sector is affordability.
“The problem I see is that hi-tech management of infertility in Malta is only available to those who can pay or are ready to make tremendous sacrifices to pay the costs of treatment.”
Savona Ventura is concerned by the psychological impact on these parents.
“Infertile couples are so desperate that they are ready to undertake extreme sacrifices to try and achieve a pregnancy. This can result in further stresses in their relationships.”
One justification for a national programme to assist infertile couples is to “enable the low-moderate income groups to avail themselves of hi-tech options when necessary.” more…

From: »Malta Today«

(cz) Children should be taught in school about infertility as well as about avoiding pregnancy, according to the new head of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, who is concerned that few young people realise the difficulties they could face in trying for a family.
Lisa Jardine’s concerns include the issues couples face over infertility brought on by factors such as obesity.
Jardine, professor of renaissance studies at Queen Mary, London University, says infertility is too little discussed. “You’ve got to start it at school,” she said. “If one in seven of us in the modern world is going to have problems with infertility then instead of all the teaching at school being about how to stop getting pregnant someone had better start teaching about how you do get pregnant, because there are going to be a lot of extremely disappointed people out there.”
She warns of a growing problem. “I think male fertility is way down. There are probably all sorts of ecological and environmental reasons why we are less fertile.” She said children at school would be told it is incredibly easy to get pregnant and that they had better be careful. “I think we could take that opportunity to talk about what happens if it isn’t easy. In other words, that would make it less of a dreadful threat if you did not get pregnant,” she said.
Recent figures from the HFEA show that more than 32,000 women a year get fertility treatment, leading to more than 11,000 births. Studies have shown that female obesity dramatically lowers the chance of conceiving and raises the risk of serious complications during pregnancy.
The British Fertility Society issued guidelines to IVF clinics last year advising starting treatment on severely overweight women only once those women had cut their body mass index to below 35. Women under 37 years should cut their weight further, to a BMI of less than 30, the guidelines stated. A woman with a BMI above 35 was half as likely to get pregnant as a woman whose BMI was less than 30.
Some experts believe obesity could be a factor that will drive one in five couples to seek fertility treatment within a decade. more…

From: »The Guardian«