Another quarter has raced past once again, producing a moderately busy period for the press office and for our media contacts. It’s a pleasure to report that journalists continue to contact us when a fertility story breaks, and it is clear that they hold the Society in high esteem as an authoritative voice readily available to speak on behalf of fertility experts.

Reviews of the HFE Act and SEED
The most significant events of the past few months have been the review of the HFE Act in August and the SEED review in October, both of which we responded to with press releases. These can be accessed, as with all our official responses, on the Press Office section of the BFS website: http://www.fertility.org.uk/press/index.html .

ASRM Meeting
The American Society for Reproductive Medicine held their annual meeting in Montreal this month, which proved to be much less productive than ESHRE earlier this year. A few stories arose, which you can see in the News section below, but we were nowhere near as busy as we had imagined.

Those that flopped…
Professor Zavos also failed to impress many journalists this September, despite being accompanied by bodyguards to his controversial press conference in London. “ Second human cloning failure for controversial fertility expert” (Guardian, 26 September) was just about as much as the media could muster. After a previous visit by Professor Zavos, Alison Murdoch was one of the signatories to a letter from a group of leading British scientists, asking for a more appropriate response from the media (see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3413115.stm).

Learn more about the media…
There are still limited spaces available for the Science Media Centre event: Introduction to the News Media on 28th November 2005. This is a great opportunity for any BFS members to find out more about how the media works and to learn about communicating work to the press. If you are interested, please contact Jo Thurston ASAP on jo.thurston@endocirnology.org or 01454 642244. Unfortunately we won't be able to provide any expenses for this meeting.

Embryonic Stem Cells Conference
Progress Educational Trust is holding a one-day conference on the ethical, legal and social issues raised by research on adult and embryonic stem cells, taking place on Tuesday 15 November 2005, 10am – 5.30pm in central London. For more info go to http://www.progress.org.uk/Events/StemCells2005.html.

National Infertility Day (NID)
National Infertility Day will take place on Saturday 10 June 2006 and is set to help raise awareness of infertility and to make information available to patients. Clinics, companies in the field of infertility, support organisations and more, will be attending. A programme will soon be available. More information can be found at: http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/nid/mainframe.htm.

Doctors fear Caesareans may harm fertility(Daily Mail, 2 August 2005)
Doctors fear Caesarean deliveries may harm fertility by disrupting the reproductive system. Experts are already concerned by the record numbers of surgical deliveries among the 'too-posh-to-push' generation.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/...

Increases in testicular cancer may be linked to the rise in maternal body weight (BMJ, August 2005)
A new epidemiological study has found that incidence of testicular cancer followed changes in maternal weight before, during, and after the second world war and may therefore be linked to maternal body weight.
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/331/7513/368-d?etoc

BFS: Scanning technique should be reviewed (www.politics.co.uk, 12 August 2005)
The British Fertility Society (BFS) has said that before the scanning of embryos for cancer is extended, the effectiveness of the scanning technique should be reviewed. BFS spokesman Tony Rutherford said the method used to scan for defective genes, preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), was good at picking up genetic disorders and it was "good to start a pregnancy knowing that the foetus is unaffected".
http://www.politics.co.uk/issueoftheday/bfs-scanning-technique-should-be-reviewed-$15022505.htm

Public asked to help rewrite IVF law (Guardian, 17 August 2005)
NHS fertility treatment is to be strictly the privilege of the traditional two-parent, heterosexual family, the government made clear yesterday, at the launch of a major consultation document, which also raised the possibility that parents could choose the sex of their child.
http://society.guardian.co.uk/health/story/0,7890,1550580,00.html

Many couples unfit for pregnancy (BBC News Online, 1 September 2005)
A poll of 2,000 women in the UK by Pregnancy & Birth magazine found two-thirds drink alcohol and four in 10 smoke while trying for a baby… Dr Allan Pacey , fertility expert at Sheffield University and secretary of the British Fertility Society, said it was unlikely that couples trying hard to conceive were not taking doctors' advice…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4202630.stm

Winston warns of stem cell 'hype' (BBC News online, 5 September 2005)
The potential benefits of embryonic stem cell research have probably been oversold to the public, fertility expert Lord Winston says.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4213566.stm

Clinic's fertility timebomb warning (www.icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk, 5 September 2005)
The head of a Midlands fertility clinic has called on the Government to do more to avoid a " fertility time bomb" by helping more couples start their own families. Dr Gillian Lockwood spoke out as more than 400 children, parents and grandchildren celebrated Midland Fertility Services' 18th birthday over the weekend.
http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news...

Whole frozen ovary transplanted (BBC News Online, 14 September 2005)
Scientists working with sheep have for the first time developed embryos from whole ovaries which were transplanted after being frozen and then thawed. Dr Allan Pacey , senior lecturer at the University of Sheffield and Secretary of the British Fertility Society, said: "Research work is proceeding on a number of fronts to give women more fertility preservation options - freezing eggs or slices of ovarian cortex - but it is still hard to tell which technique will finally enter mainstream clinical practice.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4244750.stm

Doctors issue health warning on women who give birth late (Independent, 16 September 2005)
The modern career woman who delays starting a family into her thirties is defying nature and risking heartbreak, doctors say today. Women who try to have it all may lose the one thing that matters most, the opportunity to have a family, they say.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article312975.ece

EU study suggests PCBs may damage human sperm (Reuters, 13 October 2005)
Toxic man-made industrial chemicals in the environment can damage sperm but do not seem to dramatically effect male fertility, scientists said on Thursday. http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/news...

Allan Pacey was quoted in the BBC’s story: Clearly we still have a lot to learn about how man-made chemicals interact with the male reproductive system” Dr Allan Pacey.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4330582.stm

A report on the Panorama story:
The silent danger to public health (Telegraph, 14 October 2005)
Half a million sexually active adults have chlamydia, a disease that generally shows no symptoms and has devastating health risks.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/main...

Why IVF treatment is better in summer (Daily Mail, 18 October 2005)
A woman's chances of becoming pregnant with IVF treatment are twice as high in the summer, researchers have found. They seem to be ruled by the same biological process that encourages other mammals to give birth in spring. Doctors have discovered that the hormone melatonin, which affects sleep patterns, could also make women more fertile during lighter months.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/...

Following a story in Nature:
Fertility clinic in US gets green light for sex selection trial (Guardian, 27 October 2005)
A clinical trial into the effects of allowing couples to choose the sex of their babies has been given the go-ahead at a US fertility clinic
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1601454,00.html

If you live in London…
We get lots of enquiries from the press looking for people in London to comment on breaking fertility news, or to provide more general advice and information on fertility. Our current list of London contacts is somewhat sparse, so if you are based in the city or its surrounding areas and are willing to take media enquiries every so often, please contact Jo or Tom for a chat.

Press Enquiries:
We have responded to over 100 Media enquiries during August, September and October. It is worth noting that many journalists will contact media spokespeople directly once they have their contact details, so there are instances when we are unaware that the media have been in touch until we see the article in the press. This yet again demonstrates the media’s rapport with the Society.

Our Contact details:
Jo Thurston or Tom Parkhill can be contacted on:
Tel: 01454 642244
Fax: 01454 642222
Email: jo.thurston@endocrinology.org
Press Office on the web: www.fertility.org.uk/press/index.html