As the public is to be asked whether screening of embryos should be widened, two women whose sons were born with incurable diseases share their views with BBC Breakfast.
One of them, Melanie Denning, is currently undergoing embryo screening for cystic fibrosis, after her son Owen, five, was born with the hereditary disease.
A test is being launched in January which should be able to predict how many viable eggs a woman has left. Doctors and chemists are expected to offer the test which measures levels of three hormones in the blood to spot when menopause is imminent. The kit, developed by Professor Bill Ledger of Sheffield University, is being made by Biofusion Plc. Experts praised the test but warned women that other factors could also hamper fertility.
Sperm and egg donors should be compensated with more money from next year, the fertility watchdog has said.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority says donors should be paid up to £250 to compensate for lost income.
Recent advances in sperm research using GFP could potentially help fertility experts explain the many thousands of cases every year, of couples who are diagnosed with unexplained infertility.
A technique which makes sperm glow green could aid this research into infertility, say scientists.
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Sperm testing in UK labs fails to meet World Health Organization standards, raising concerns over infertility misdiagnoses, a study suggests. The paper, published online by Human Reproduction, surveyed 37 labs.
The Bristol and Sheffield-based researchers found only 5% of the clinics met all WHO standards for assessing the size and shape of sperm. They warn this means clinics could be “over-diagnosing” certain problems resulting in unnecessary treatments.
Ministers have begun seeking views over inequalities in access to fertility treatment across Scotland.
Average waiting times range from two months in Shetland to five years in Grampian, and the same guidelines do not apply in all health board areas.
PRESS STATEMENT
Released by: National Infertility Awareness Campaign, 10 August 2005
The National Infertility Awareness Campaign (NIAC) welcomes a move by the Scottish Executive to consider introducing a waiting time target for infertility treatment at tertiary level. In response to a parliamentary question tabled by Scottish MSP, Mary Scanlon, the Executive announced that following a review of access criteria for NHS funded assisted conception treatment, it would consider the need to apply a target waiting time for tertiary infertility treatment.
The government is launching a review of the laws governing fertility research and embryo treatment.
BBC News website looks at the laws and how they might change following the review. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act became law in 1990. It has provided a framework for the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) ever since.
Just under a quarter of IVF births in 2002 - 03 resulted in twins. The UK’s fertility watchdog is to consider whether women undergoing IVF should only be able to have one embryo implanted at a time. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority is to review if the UK should follow other European countries which only transfer one embryo.
Women who get pregnant using donated eggs are less likely to have blood pressure problems if the eggs come from a sister, Korean doctors have found.
Pregnancy-induced hypertension, which can be fatal, occurs more often in women needing donor eggs to conceive. Researchers found using an unrelated donor’s egg carried a 5.4 fold increased risk - but using a sibling egg raised the risk just 2.2 times.
A woman who works at a Notts fertility clinic but had been told she might never have her own child is celebrating the birth of her daughter.
Kathryn Berrisford works in the CARE Fertility Centre at the Park hospital - but had suffered four miscarriages.
Infertility may be becoming more of a man’s than a woman’s problem, new figures suggest. Until now, both were level pegging - 40% of cases linked to men, 40% to women and 20% to joint problems. However, the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology found rates of an IVF treatment, ICSI, typically used to help male infertility have risen. It said a number of factors including declining sperm quality due to environmental toxins may be involved.
Fertility treatment has helped thousands become parents, however, fertility treatment success rates vary widely from clinic to clinic, according to the first comprehensive guide to be published on services in the UK. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority’s publication on 85 clinics shows the average success rate for IVF for women under 35 to be just 27.6%.
A common diabetes drug can improve the chance of success for some women undergoing IVF, say UK researchers. A hormonal disturbance called Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) is one of the leading causes of infertility in women. Even with IVF, many women with PCOS will still be unable to have a baby.
Infertility is set to double in Europe over the next decade, a leading UK fertility expert has warned.
One in seven couples now has trouble conceiving naturally, but Professor Bill Ledger from Sheffield University warned this could rise to one in three. He told a European fertility conference that women should be offered career breaks so they could have children younger, when they are more fertile. Obesity and sex infections were also increasing infertility, he said.
We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone that participated in our family and friends Raising Awareness Day. The event was a great success and we raised just over £1800. All of our sponsors; Serono, Organon, Ferring pharmaceutical, Nuffield Hospitals, Search Recruitment, Ralph Lauren, Ubiquitous Chip, Trailfinders, Stevenson’s Jewellers, About Face, Cameron House De Vere Hotels, Scottish Media Group, Glasgow Science Centre, Well Woman Clinic -Neals Yard, Laing O’Rourke, John Lewis together provided us with nearly £2000 worth of prizes and enabled us to host the event.
AMERICAN scientists have made what appears to be an exciting and important step towards what could eventually become a cure for infertility. The ability to grow human eggs from ovarian stem cells in a laboratory opens up new opportunities to women who are infertile - as a result of cancer treatment, for example - to have children who are biologically their own.
WOMEN’S fertility could be extended for another 12 years after scientists succeeded in growing human eggs in a laboratory from ovarian stem cells, it is claimed today.
The technique, developed by scientists at the University of Tennessee, offers fresh hope to millions of women worldwide seeking fertility treatment.
One possibility of the research is that pre-menopausal ovaries could be revitalised by colonising them with younger stem cells.
There have been a number of IVF mix ups. Barcodes or electronic tags may be used to mark eggs, sperm and embryos and prevent IVF blunders.
Scientists are developing technology in which an alarm would sound if the wrong egg and sperm were placed too close to each other.
The idea is being considered by the UK’s fertility watchdog, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.
Cradle will be hosting a fundraising day in the 28th May at GOALS Gt. Western Road Glasgow. Tickets are priced at £5. The event will include a mini 5 aside football tournaments from 12-2pm and a barbeque from 3-5pm. We are aiming for a relaxing entertaining day with music, excellent raffle prizes and auctioning of football strips.
More than 40% of the women involved in the study were smokers. Smoking can make a woman years older in reproductive terms - significantly reducing her chances of successful IVF treatment, Dutch scientists have said.
Researchers looked at 8,457 women aged 20 to 40 who had had IVF treatment.
Three couples have been chosen to undergo free fertility treatment following a campaign funded by a newspaper in Birmingham.
The Birmingham Post’s campaign invited would-be parents to apply for a series of fertility packages with Midland Fertility Services (MFS) in Walsall.
It said it aimed to raise awareness of the need for more money to be spent on fertility treatment in the NHS.
The winners come from Worcester, Birmingham and Tipton.
Members of the Glasgow fertility support group Cradle, are angered at the ill-informed journalism of some of the leading Scottish tabloid newspapers.
Recent public media attention surrounding IVF and “sex selection” has once again been poorly reported on and directly linked to IVF in a negative fashion. Public perception and support for those undergoing Assisted Reproduction has once again been damaged.
A National centre to help couples who fear passing on dangerous genetic conditions to their children is to open in Glasgow.
The Scottish Executive will fund the new pre-implantation genetic diagnosis service to help at least 15 families a year. But today doctors insisted they would not be helping couples to create ‘designer babies’ unlike controversial units in England.
Glasgow Royal Infirmary will work with experts in genetic conditions from the Duncan Guthrie Unit at Yorkhill Sick Kids, offering fresh hope to families throughout Scotland. Some of the patients from all over Scotland treated at the NHS centre, which opens next month, will have experienced multiple miscarriages as a result of pregnancies that could not survive to term.
Baby James Maxwell MacCuish was born on 16th December 2004, weighing 8lb 2oz.
We would like to thank everyone at Cradle for their support throughout our pregnancy and for all the beautiful cards and gifts sent for James. We would also like to congratulate James and Angela on the birth of their baby girl Holly, who weighed in at a healthy 7lb 14oz on her due date.
This is why we keep trying.
Best Wishes and Good Luck to Everyone.
Sam MacCuish
GLASGOW INFORMATION DAY
An information day will be held at the Glynhill Hotel, Paisley Road, Renfrew on Sunday 13th March.
The day will consist of talks by local health professionals and others with an interest in infertility, as well as breakout sessions, which will give delegates a chance to explore some issues in more depth. One such session will cover “welfare of the child” issues which many of you will have noticed taking headlines in the news in recent days. We want to give you as patients the chance to air your views on this subject. Speakers and topics will be announced soon so watch this space.
There will be an exhibition area that will include pharmaceutical companies and clinics, where information will be readily available.
The event is free of charge to anyone with an interest in infertility issues and morning coffee and lunch are included. Bookings can be made by calling Sheena Young at the Scottish Regional Office on 01294 218868 or email sheena@infertilitynetworkuk.com
The law requires doctors to consider the welfare of any child conceived
The checks that couples wanting IVF have to undergo to ensure they are fit to be parents are being overhauled. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority is launching a public consultation on how far clinics should probe potential parents.
Researchers used an enzyme found in sperm to enable eggs to divide.
Scientists have devised a way to make human eggs behave as if they have been fertilised - without using sperm.
The team from Wales College of Medicine at Cardiff University say this could provide a more ethically acceptable way of creating ‘embryonic’ stem cells.
Scientists have discovered a molecule that plays a key role in the development of sperm.
The Cancer Research UK team were actually investigating the role of JAM-C in the formation of new blood vessels around tumours.
Their work suggests genetic defects interfering with the normal function of the molecule could cause infertility by blocking the maturation of sperm cells. The study is published in the journal Nature.
Sperm cells develop in the testes and undergo a series of changes until they are mature and viable. They begin life as round cells and as they mature they elongate and develop a tail.
Fertility clinics have a shortage of donors. Egg and sperm donors could be paid thousands of pounds in expenses under plans being considered.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) is consulting on how to recompense donors in a bid to combat the shortage of donors.
IVF produces healthy babies
A major study of babies born after common fertility techniques has confirmed that they are just has healthy as children conceived naturally.
IVF itself, and ICSI, in which a single sperm is injected into the egg to fertilise it, have now been in use for 25 years and 11 years respectively, and there are substantial numbers of children conceived using both methods.
Tamara is the first baby to be born to a woman after an ovary transplant
A cancer patient made infertile by chemotherapy has, in a world first, given birth after revolutionary treatment, Belgian doctors say ovarian tissue from Ouarda Touirat, 32, was removed and frozen seven years ago before chemotherapy, then re-implanted into her pelvis last year.
She conceived naturally and gave birth at Brussels’ Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc this week, the Lancet reported.
A fertility clinic could be forced to stop its sperm donation service after new rules denying men the right to anonymity. The Cardiff Assisted Reproduction Unit used to have between 17 and 19 sperm donors registered, but now has just two regulars. Staff at the clinic have blamed new rules which will allow donors to be identified from next April.
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