IVF CLINICS OFFERING “RISKY” FERTILITY TREATMENT
A leading British immunologist has warned that many fertility clinics are offering women an unnecessary, potentially dangerous and possibly counterproductive treatment. Ashley Moffett, of the University of Cambridge, says that many clinics administer steroids or intravenous immunoglobulin to lower the level of uterine natural killer cells — despite the fact that there is scant evidence that this will increase fertility.
“This has somehow slipped through the net of any regulation,” Dr Moffett told Nature Medicine. “It is bizarre that women who may be in early pregnancy are exposed to this sort of risk.” Immunoglobulin has a number of potential side effects, including kidney failure and hepatitis. The UK’s fertility regulator only deals with the creation and handling of embryos, not drug regimes for fertility patients.
“The get-out clause is that [doctors] discuss it with their patient,” says Raj Rai, of Imperial College London. “But this is disingenuous, because how is a patient supposed to decide?”
- How long can you put off seeing the doctor because of lockdowns? - December 3, 2021
- House of Lords debates assisted suicide—again - October 28, 2021
- Spanish government tries to restrict conscientious objection - October 28, 2021
More Stories
Mortality rates for American kids are rising for the first time in 50 years
US President Joe Biden is so concerned about the future of American children that he inserted a mandate for affordable...
Will Pope Francis be composted?
Will Pope Francis be composted instead of buried in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome with his predecessors? It’s unlikely. But...
The virtues and the vices of the outrageous
A Norwegian bioethicist, Anna Smajdor, recently set out a case for “Whole Body Gestational Donation” – using the wombs of...
More than 200 people have been treated with experimental CRISPR therapies
Scientists believe that CRISPR gene editing technologies will transform medicine. But how many people have been treated so far? According...
Asia-Pacific IVF market could reach US$46 billion by 2031
According to a market survey by Allied Market Research, IVF is booming in the Asia-Pacific region. The market size was...
Third global summit on human genome editing: Moving on after the He experiment
The much anticipated Third International Summit on Human Genome Editing was held in London earlier this month to explore the...