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(sz) A nationwide group of fertility clinics will launch the nation’s first “ova bank,” a system into which registered women can donate ova at no cost to married couples seeking fertility treatment, it has been learned.
The Japanese Institution for Standardizing Assisted Reproductive Technology (JISART), a group comprising 21 private fertility clinics, plans to begin asking for volunteer ova donors for the bank by the end of the year.
The only way an infertile women–for reasons such as having had her ovaries removed on medical grounds–can get pregnant is through in vitro fertilization using eggs donated from another woman.
But with the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology (JSOG) not permitting eggs to be used for IVF from anyone other than a married woman who would become the mother, IVF using donated ova has rarely been performed domestically.
The United States has many commercial ova banks and several hundred Japanese couples are believed to have gone there to receive donated ova.
Japan is moving to regulate ova donations, though slowly. In July, JISART formulated its own guidelines for carrying out IVF with sperm or ova provided by a third party.
The ova bank is the next step on from this.
Women donating ova to the bank would, in principle, be mothers aged younger than 35. JISART will set the condition that there must be no compensation for donating ova, except for medical fees and other accompanying costs. more…

From: »The Daily Yomiuri«

(sz) After a little over a year of inaugurating its controversial but apparently successful plastic surgery loan, Lebanon’s First National Bank (FNB) has launched yet another initiative, this time, the world’s first fertility loan.
In 2006, using the slogan, “Beauty is no longer a luxury,” FNB’s plastic surgery loan created waves of criticism for encouraging the commercialization of women’s bodies. It also consolidated the bank’s position as a hip, risk-taking institution for young people, and the Fertility Loan plans to take it even further, this time playing to couples facing difficulties in having children.
FNB is gearing up for another media blitz. Religious TV channels have already started criticizing the loan, while the international press, always on the lookout for a quirky Lebanon story when the guns are silent, has picked up on the campaign. What FNB learned from the negative press coverage for the plastic surgery loan is that almost all publicity is welcome. “When they criticize negatively, we know it’s good, because this is what we call ‘viral marketing,’” said Mahir Mezher, FNB’s head of marketing and the campaign’s creator.
LBC’s Bassmat al-Watan, one of the most popular political comedy shows in Lebanon, lampooned the loan just days after its official launch, while Mezher said that his bank has received a staggering 200-250 calls per day from interested customers since billboards were put up in mid-August.
Fertility - especially male fertility - has long been viewed as a symbol of masculinity in Lebanon and the region. This notion, coupled with the emphasis put on the sacredness of family and kinship, has made discussion on any sort of artificial intervention for the infertile something of a social taboo. In fact, Lebanon, according to a quantitative study conducted by Mezher in the brewing phase of the project, suffers from a higher-than-global-average 15% infertility rate (the global average for women’s infertility is 9%, according to a 2006 study sampling over 170,000 women), a situation Mezher explained as due to stress induced by more than 25 years of war and political instability.
Despite the taboo nature of infertility problems, in-vitro fertilization (IVF) is a common enough procedure, with 20 infertility centers in Lebanon. The American University Hospital (AUH) charges around $2,500 per IVF and performs 60-100 trials per month. “We’re as good as the States or even Europe,” said Dr. Ghina Ghazeeri, a gynecologist at AUH. more…

From: »YaLibnan«

(cz) Private hospitals and clinics will be allowed to conduct artificial insemination to treat infertility, but are still prohibited from conducting in vitro fertilisation (IVF), a top health official has clarified.
Dr Odeh Ahmad Odeh, Acting Director of Facility Control and Quality Assurance Unit at the Department of Health and Medical Services (Dohms) said artificial insemination is allowed in private hospitals from this month.
However, he said the ban on IVF, which is in place since 2005, cannot be lifted as it remains an ethical issue.
“An error while conducting IVF can lead to a mix-up of ancestry. It can be a mistake or it can be intentional, either way it is a huge risk.” more…

From: »Xpress« (United Arab Emirates)

(wz) A pregnant woman is suing her health trust after she was forced to conceive using a donated egg because of delays in treating her.
Greta Mason, 42, claims a barrage of unnecessary fertility tests followed by a six-year wait for treatment meant her eggs were too old to be used and she could only conceive using a donor.
She is upset that she will now give birth to a baby to which she is not genetically related, and claims earlier tests showed it was her husband who had the fertility problem.
Mrs Mason, from Worthing, West Sussex, claims that when she was finally given a clean bill of health, she and her husband Chris were kept on an NHS waiting list for four years before they even got an appointment for IVF.
Then when they had treatment after a further two years, doctors discovered that Mrs Mason’s eggs were too old to be used and she could only conceive using an egg donor.
Mrs Mason, who expects her baby next week, said: ‘Whilst I am sure I will love this baby when it arrives, I am absolutely devastated that it is not genetically mine.
‘I had always dreamed of having my own flesh and blood child who will inherit my genes so it was an absolutely shattering blow.
‘But the hospital failed to monitor my hormone levels and did not notice that my ovaries were getting too old to undergo fertility treatment.
‘I always wanted a baby with my husband but the truth is that this baby is genetically another woman’s, and at times during my pregnancy, because the baby is not related to me, I have simply felt like an incubator. more…

From: »The Daily Mail«

(sz) The birth of twins may cause anxiety for parents, particularly if the babies are premature and of low birthweight.
Indeed, studies on twins born in Europe during the 1930s showed they had a lower IQ and academic achievement than comparable singletons. But in more recent studies, on those born in the 1980s, this difference has vanished.
This good news for twins is probably due to improvements in living conditions and antenatal, postnatal and paediatric care for low-birthweight babies.
Twins are not uncommon; in the UK, one in 65 pregnancies produces them, so about one in 32 of us is a twin.
One-third of these are monozygous – genetically identical, same-sex twins arising from a single egg that splits early in development. The other two-thirds are dizygous – non-identical twins arising from two separate, fertilised eggs and being 50 per cent genetically identical, just like other siblings.
Numbers of monozygotic twins throughout the world are fairly constant, but the incidence of dizygotic twins varies, reportedly highest among the Yoruba people of West Africa, where twins arrive at the rate of approximately one per 22 births.
In many western societies, including Britain, the numbers of dizygotic twin births have risen because of fertility treatments involving drugs, such as Clomid, that induce multiple ovulation, or the implantation of two embryos after in-vitro fertilisation. more…

From: »The Scotsman«

(wz) Until a few years ago, egg donation was considered to be a ‘life-giver’ to many childless couples desiring their own children. But over the years, this charitable act has now become a lucrative trade. Egg donors today have more business concerns than social. In such a background, the term ‘egg donation’ seems to be a misnomer.
Many women from the lower income groups have taken to egg donation to support their families. It is fast becoming a trade with touts and a well-developed mechanism to get the business going. Fertility clinics have also cashed in on the boom.
So, what is this ‘egg donation’ business all about? Majority of donations are driven more by money than goodwill. The physical attributes of a donor decide the price of service. Costs vary from Rs 4,000 to 10,000 per cycle of donation.
Parul Kotdawala, an In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) expert said: “Price is a tricky issue. If the woman has desirable physical attributes such as fair skin and good features, the donation will fetch anything up to Rs 10,000 per cycle of donation.” more…

From: »ExpressIndia«

(cz) The health service must do more to end the postcode lottery that denies many ­infertile couples IVF treatment, Government advisers said yesterday (Aug, 22nd – ed.).
Only five per cent of NHS trusts currently offer the recommended three cycles of IVF, forcing many couples to go private.
Yesterday the East of England Strategic Health Authority said it would now provide the three cycles at its 14 trusts in Essex, Cambridge shire, Hertford shire, Bedfordshire, Suffolk and Norfolk.
The move came as a report by the Expert Group On Commiss ioning NHS Infertility Provision told trusts they must put aside more money for fertility treatment and consider the psychological impact of infertility when allocating funds.
About one couple in six suffers infertility. Research suggests those who cannot have a family often go on to suffer stress, depression, relationship breakdowns and a poorer quality of life. more…

From: »The Daily Express«

(wz) Health Minister Recep Akdag has said his ministry is working on a plan to limit embryo transfers to two from the current three in clinics in an effort to reduce the number of high-risk pregnancies.
The government is also working on proposals to institute stricter regulations on test-tube baby centers and infertility centers. The new regulations are expected to be put in place next month, the minister said.
Akdag also noted that the government attaches great importance to the health and well-being of mothers, as well as newborns. The government had previously limited the number of embryos transferred to three. According to the draft proposal, pregnancy and infertility centers would be required to have a contract with intensive care units to monitor babies born in high-risk pregnancies. Fertility clinics would be given a window of time to come into compliance with the new regulations, the health minister said.
The remarks came after a report early this month that 27 infants died in a two-week period at the Dr. Zekai Tahir Burak Women’s Health and Teaching Hospital in Ankara. An investigatory commission formed upon the order of the health minister concluded in its report that only one out of four babies died due to infection. The report highlighted that women with high-risk pregnancies, which often result in infant deaths, were also treated at the hospital. more…

From: »TODAY’S ZAMAN ISTANBUL«

(sz) The fledgling fertility business of a few years ago has exploded into a giant industry; one that is largely unregulated by our squeamish government.
Americans don’t want Uncle Sam slithering between their bed sheets. But recent events in the field of human embryonic stem cell research suggest we’d do well to let the bearded geezer’s foot into the bedroom door a tad.
To quote Tom Friedman, “Let me explain.”
A few decades ago, the U.S. government was in a position to keep a close eye on, and perhaps even regulate, the fledgling fertility clinic business. Doctors were learning, pretty much by the seat of their pants, how to mix sperm and eggs in laboratory dishes to make human embryos that could then be transferred to the wombs of women who were having trouble getting pregnant.
The technology was a real medical and societal breakthrough. But the decision of how to deal with the newly emerging business of assisted reproductive technology was complicated because the field resided — and still resides — in a peculiar regulatory space. To the extent that it constitutes the practice of medicine, it is not subject to federal oversight. But to the extent it constitutes experimentation, it would be subject to a wide array of federal and international rules relating to research on human subjects.
As it turned out, the U.S. government did not want to go there. For one thing, baby-making seemed a very private matter. More importantly, the field was and remains a political hot potato, irrevocably related to the abortion debate and subject to endless sparring among those who do and do not think that microscopic human embryos have the same moral standing as late-stage fetuses or adults. That’s relevant because far more embryos are thrown away (or frozen indefinitely in liquid nitrogen) than are turned into babies at in vitro fertilization clinics. more…

From: »alternet.org«

(cz) In a unanimous decision, the California Supreme Court ruled Monday that doctors cannot withhold care to gays and lesbians based on their religious beliefs.
The Court was considering the case of a woman who was denied fertility treatments because she is a lesbian and was not married.
The case began in 2001 when Guadalupe Benitez filed suit against Drs. Christine Brody and Douglas Fenton after they refused to artificially inseminate her, claiming to do so would violate their religious beliefs.
A lower court ruled that the doctors could not use religion as a defense, but in 2005 a state appeals court struck down the ruling ,saying that the doctors were within their rights because they based their decision on Benitez’s unmarried status and that discrimination based on marital status is not prohibited by state law.
Represented by Lambda Legal Benitez appealed to the California Supreme Court.
Benitez alleges that after she had received 11 months of preparatory treatment from the North Coast Women’s Care Medical Group clinic in San Diego, and at “the critical and brief moment when Benitez needed to be inseminated,” Brody and Fenton refused to inseminate her.
Both Brody and Fenton said that because of their personal religious beliefs about gay people, they would not administer the treatment Benitez had been promised. In court papers the doctors also said they object to treating unmarried heterosexual women and they claim that their fundamentalist Christian beliefs exempt them from California’s civil rights laws. more…

From: »365gay.com«