It has been a steady few months for the press office since the beginning of the year, with the usual amount of fertility stories surfacing regularly to keep us active. In particular, the HFEA annual meeting on 27 March and a preceding press briefing with Deborah Spar caught the eye of the British press and lead to a few stories about the economics of conception.

The briefing highlighted Spar’s call for greater regulation of the fertility industry following the release of her book; The Baby Business: how money, science and politics drive the commerce of conception (Harvard Business School Press), and echoed the theme in January’s press after the BFS and the Science Media Centre held a press briefing at the Royal Institution looking to the future of fertility (called Fertility Rumble – this was reported in our previous review). This time, headlines such as “ Regulation needed for fertility industry – expert” and “ Desperate couples 'fail to consider huge costs of fertility treatment' ” dominated the press.

Some of these stories can be viewed in the “In the Press” section below, and a review of Deborah Spar’s book can be found here: http://www.economist.com/business/displayStory.cfm?story_id=5536142.

Other news has featured declining fertility rates in the UK and the risks of delayed parenting, with reports of IVF rushes by the over 40’s (in the Daily Mail – see below in the news section) and claims that economical worries influence European couples in deciding on the amount of children they will have. These subjects appear to be of ongoing interest, so it looks as though we can expect to be called upon with regard to this for a while yet.

Introduction to the Media – 16 May, Science Media Centre
Spaces have now been filled for this event entitled “Introduction to the Media” to be held at the Science Media Centre. However, this proved to be very popular and we had an extremely positive response from members wishing to learn about the media or to update their training. We would like to extend our thanks to everyone who expressed their interest, and apologise that we could not fit everybody in. We will let you know of any similar events as they arise in the future.

HFEA Open Meeting (10 May 2006)
The HFEA held its Open meeting in Belfast on 10 May. These meetings are held for Members to discuss a range of issues relating to assisted reproduction, embryo research and the HFEA’s role as a regulator. Items that hit the news included women donating eggs for research and PGD being used for cancer screening. We received a good deal of interest from the press, which will be covered in the next Media Review.

National Infertility Day (NID) (10 June 2006)
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://www.nationalinfertilityday.co.uk/.

ESHRE 2006
The European Society of Human Reproduction & Embryology holds its annual meeting on 18-21 June. The conference usually creates a large amount of press interest, so we will keep you informed with the latest information as and when we get it. We normally get press releases in advance, although since they are embargoed we can’t send them out to everyone. Nevertheless, it does enable us to prepare. You can view details of the event on their website: http://www.eshre.com/emc.asp?pageId=206

Warning over 'fertility tourism' (BBC news Online, 28 April)
The HFEA have warned couples about seeking fertility treatment abroad. Since laws came in last year removing the right of anonymity for UK donors, European fertility clinics have seen a boom in UK customers and the HFEA have urged caution in this area.

Infertile couples hit by big fall in sperm donors (Guardian, 24 April)
Thousands of people seeking donor insemination are being put on permanent waiting lists and told they will have to pay up to £1,000 a time because sperm supplies have been severely reduced by a change in the law which has removed donors' right to anonymity.

Regulation needed for fertility industry - expert
Fertility treatment is a multi-billion dollar global industry that needs regulation to protect infertile couples and assure equal access to treatment. Without national or international regulation and better information, treatments such as in-vitro fertilization (IVF) will become a luxury market that only the wealthy can afford…(continued)…

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=healthNews&storyID=2006-03-28T123322Z_01_L28598123_RTRIDST_0_HEALTH-INFERTILITY-DC.XML

Desperate couples 'fail to consider huge costs of fertility treatment' (Independent, 29 March)

Fertility treatment 'to be only for the rich' (Telegraph, 29 March)

Daily Telelgraph article...

Mounting cost of IVF is pricing out the poor (Daily Mail, 29 March)

Daily Mail Article...

IVF rush by over-40s (Daily Mail, no publication date)
The number of older women trying to become pregnant has soared over the last five years, a Daily Mail survey has found. Up to half of those going for fertility treatment in some clinics are over 40. The rate is far higher than official statistics, which claim that only 14 per cent having IVF are in the older age group.

Daily Mail Article...

Woman loses frozen embryos fight (BBC online, 7 March)
A woman left infertile after cancer treatment cannot use frozen embryos to have a baby, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled. Natallie Evans started IVF treatment with her then partner Howard Johnston in 2001 but he withdrew consent for the embryos to be used after they split up. Ms Evans went to the Strasbourg court after exhausting the UK legal process.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4779876.stm

Fertility trap: The £500,000 question - should you gamble with your body clock (Independent, 19 February)
Britain is on the brink of a fertility crisis, with record numbers of women either delaying motherhood or remaining childless, a new study warns. This "baby gap" is being blamed on the fact that young mothers stand to lose hundreds of thousands of pounds over their lifetime for taking time out to have babies and losing their place on the career ladder.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article346367.ece

European birth rate reduced by economic factors and concern about the future (Europa website, no publication date)
A fertility behaviour project funded by the European Commission shows that more than half the people questioned would on average like at least two children. However, a great number of couples actually have fewer, due to worries about the future and the cost of raising children. The DIALOG project collected data from 30,000 people in 14 European countries on their attitudes and opinions concerning family numbers, fertility behaviour and demographic change. Financed with €1.5 m from the Sixth Framework research programme, the project provides a useful snapshot of European fertility behaviour for policy-makers at national and European level.

http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/press/2006/pr1702en.cfm

Feedback
We are very keen to hear feedback about our work in the press office. Are you happy with our work? Do you value the emails detailing fertility in the news, and these quarterly Media Reviews? Is there anything you would change about our service? All feedback will be welcomed and readily acted upon. You can contact me (Jo Thurston) or Tom Parkhill on jo.thurston@endocrinology.org or tom.parkhill@endocrinology

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 still 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.

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