Issue 375 (11 September 2006)

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Delayed motherhood: putting eggs on ice

11 September 2006 - by Melanie Davies

There is a steady and continuing trend towards later childbearing in all Western European countries. In England and Wales, the fertility rate for women in their thirties has now overtaken that for younger women. Over the last three decades, the average age of women having their first baby has risen...[Read More]

HFEA consults on eggs for research

11 September 2006 - by Dr Kirsty Horsey

The UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has launched a public consultation on the donation of eggs for scientific research purposes. The consultation was announced in May after discussions at an HFEA public meeting failed to reach a conclusion on the issue. It will run...[Read More]

Japanese man not father of child born after his death

11 September 2006 - by Dr Kirsty Horsey

The supreme Court of Japan has overturned an earlier ruling that a child born after IVF using a dead man's sperm is legally the man's child. The child was conceived after the man's death from leukaemia in 1999, using his frozen sperm, and born in 2001...[Read More]

Continuing controversy over 'ethical' stem cells

11 September 2006 - by Dr Jess Buxton

The authors of a recent study describing a new way of extracting human embryonic stem (ES) cells have been accused of 'hyping' their results. The research, published by US firm Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) in the journal Nature on 24 August, reported the isolation of new...[Read More]

FDA releases genetic test guidance

11 September 2006 - by Dr Jess Buxton

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released two sets of draft guidelines relating to some types of diagnostic genetic tests last week. According to Kathy Hudson, director of the Genetics and Public Policy Center at Johns Hopkins University, the documents clarify the role of the...[Read More]

Women recommended to freeze eggs

11 September 2006 - by Antony Blackburn-Starza

Two fertility experts have told the annual British Fertilisation Society (BFS) conference in Glasgow that women in their 30s should consider freezing their eggs if they wish to have children in the future. Dr Melanie Davis said the danger of decreased fertility and the 'well of suffering...[Read More]

Doctors two years away from successful womb transplants

11 September 2006 - by Antony Blackburn-Starza

Doctors at Hammersmith Hospital, London, aim to carry out the first successful womb transplant within two years, reported the Evening Standard. Doctors say that the womb would be taken from a dead donor and will only remain in the recipient for two or three years, or until...[Read More]