So you want to be a parent? UK to revise IVF rules
The UK’s fertility clinic regulator has launched a public consultation on what qualities are needed to become an IVF parent. The current guidelines require clinics to take into account the welfare of the child, but there is no standardised process for assessing prospective parents’ suitability. Under the most radical proposal for discussion, only medical factors, such as the possibility of HIV or other infectious diseases, would have to be considered. Most officials of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority are understood to favour this approach.
Dr Mohammed Taranissi, one of London’s leading IVF doctors, is pushing for minimum restrictions. “We as doctors are not really qualified to make assessments of people’s suitability as parents,” he says. “If this [restriction] is really important it should apply across the board, to anyone who is considering starting a family.”
- Prescribe morning-after pills to young teenagers, say US pediatric group - November 30, 2012
- Bahrain sentences protest docs to prison - November 28, 2012
- Terry Pratchett assisted suicide documentary wins International Emmy - November 27, 2012
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...