Holy Hormones Journal » Infertility

‘Three-parent IVF’ may be made legal in UK, says minister

Leslie Carol Botha — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 21:10:55 +0000

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Consultation on the controversial procedure begins amid outcry against ‘macabre’ practice

The Independent

Jeremy Laurance
January 20, 2012

Click on graphic to view 'How the technique can ensure a healthy baby' graphic

The controversial technique known as “three-parent IVF” came a step closer yesterday after the Department of Health asked the fertility regulator to conduct a public consultation into its acceptability.

At the same time the Wellcome Trust announced extra funds to expand research into the technique, which involves using genetic material from three parents – two women and a man – to create a baby.

The procedure, currently banned in the UK, is aimed at helping the estimated 12,000 people who are living with mitochondrial disease – defects in the small structures called mitochondria that surround the cell nucleus.

The disease is inherited but is only passed down the maternal line. About 100 babies are born each year with a severe form of the disease, for which there is no cure, with many dying in infancy.

The proposed procedure involves removing the nucleus from an affected woman’s egg, transferring it to the shell of an egg provided by a female donor who has healthy mitochondria, and then fertilising it with the sperm of the affected woman’s partner. The resulting baby would have genetic characteristics chiefly from its mother and father plus some from the mitochondria of its third parent, who provided the donor egg.

An alternative method involves fertilising the woman’s egg with her partner’s sperm before transfer into the donor egg.

Announcing the consultation, Public Health Minister Anne Milton said: “Mitochondrial disease… can have a devastating impact on the people who inherit it. Scientists have developed a new procedure to stop these diseases being passed on. But such a procedure would not be allowed… under current law, so we are consulting the public as to whether we should change the law.

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The State of My Union is the State of My Uterus

Leslie Carol Botha — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 20:13:54 +0000

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Gender Across Borders

January 23, 2012

This post is by Aphra Behn of Guerilla Girls On Tour!

While on tour this year, I felt an uncomfortable cramping near my crotch. It was somewhere between Arkansas and Oklahoma that I realized what it was. The government was tightening its grip on my uterus.

In Kansas, my uterus signed up for a sex education class but the only subject taught was abstinence. In West Virginia, my uterus got tired of abstinence and got a prescription for birth control, but my health insurance company wouldn’t pay for it. As a result, by Texas my uterus was pregnant and sought pre-natal care, but there wasn’t any because state legislators decimated Planned Parenthood’s funds.

Conservatives proclaim to detest government interference in one’s life. Republicans make careers out of repealing regulations. Yet, both groups seem obsessed with restricting what goes on inside my uterus. It got so bad this year that at one point, I think Congress believed that controlling my uterus would create more jobs.

Now, my uterus may not see ovary to ovary with other uteruses across the land. But no matter where we reside, we are all American uteri and as such are guaranteed a fundamental human right, the right to privacy. But without much outcry, my uterine rights are shriveling away.

In the first half of last year, 80 abortion restrictions were enacted in male-dominated legislatures across my country, more than tripling the 23 enacted in 2010. The last half of the year was gloomier yet, marked by Mississippi voters pondering an initiative that would have declared a fertilized egg a legal person and Health and Human Services Secretary Katheleen Sebelius overruling the FDA’s decision to make Plan B emergency contraception available over the counter for all women.

In Missouri and eight other states, my uterus is required to receive counseling in person before waiting 24 hours for an abortion, necessitating two separate trips to any clinic. In Georgia and ten other states, my body must receive verbal information about the ability of a fetus to feel pain. In North Carolina and four other states, it has to be given written materials that show medically inaccurate connections between abortion and infertility and between abortion and the possibility of developing breast cancer.

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Vaccinations could be less effective after chemical exposure

Leslie Carol Botha — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 23:25:26 +0000

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Vaccinations during childhood could be made less effective by exposure to chemicals commonly found in plastic containers and food packaging, Harvard researchers have claimed.

The Telegraph

By Nick Collins, Science Correspondent
7:30AM GMT 25 Jan 2012

Photo: REX

The man-made chemicals, known as PFCs, are found in a variety of everyday items including non-stick frying pans, waterproof clothing and fast food wrappers.

Previous studies have linked high levels of PFCs, which can last in the body for decades, to earlier menopause and reduced fertility among women.

Now a new study contains clues that high exposure to the chemicals in the womb or in early life could also limit the protection offered by vaccinations to children’s health.

Researchers from Harvard University studied data on 587 children from the Faroe Islands, measuring PFC levels in the blood of mothers and five-year-olds.

They also measured the children’s levels of antibodies after receiving tetanus and diphtheria vaccinations at the ages of five and seven.

The study showed that children with a twofold increase in levels of three major PFCs had a 49 per cent lower level of antibodies at the age of seven.

This does not necessarily mean the vaccine would be half as protective, but researchers said that in 43 cases – almost ten per cent – the antibody levels were low enough that the children would have “little or no protection” against the diseases.

They told the Telegraph that while some children had very low PFC concentrations, others had more than tenfold increases.

The research did not, however, prove that the PFC exposure had necessarily caused the lower number of antibodies, an essential component of the immune system.

Writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Harvard University researchers said: “These findings suggest a decreased effect of childhood vaccines and may reflect a more general immune system deficit.

“If the associations are causal, the clinical importance of our findings is therefore that PFC exposure may increase a child’s risk for not being protected against diphtheria and tetanus, despite a full schedule of vaccinations.”

Dr Philippe Grandjean, who led the study, said: “Routine childhood immunisations are a mainstay of modern disease prevention.

“The negative impact on childhood vaccinations from PFCs should be viewed as a potential threat to public health.”

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Women suffer needless IVF because clinics ignore male infertility

Leslie Carol Botha — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:43:30 +0000

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Most fertility clinics are gynecology driven and approach assisted conception by treating the female partner. This non-scientific, not to mention, chauvinistic practice, results in women undergoing expensive, physically painful, emotionally grueling, and sometimes dangerous, in vitro fertilization (the process by which egg cells are fertilized by sperm outside the body) unnecessarily.

The investigation and treatment of male infertility problems is often not done thoroughly enough, and sometimes not at all. Most IVF clinics don’t even employ a male infertility specialist, and continue to focus solely on women’s fertility issues, with little attention paid to men’s problems.

According to some of the UK’s top male health specialists, the infertility problems of the country’s men are going undiagnosed and untreated. Studies have indicated that in half of infertility cases male problems are partly responsible, and in 20-percent, it is purely a male infertility issue. Around 50-percent of male infertility problems are treatable, but unfortunately this is commonly overlooked. This medical myopia results in women undergoing unnecessary IVF procedures; with all the inherent costs and emotional distress they can cause, as well as the possibility of medical injury to the female partner.

An in vitro fertilization process that does not thoroughly investigate the possibility of male infertility poses an unnecessary, risk to a woman’s physical and emotional health and exposes the couple to unnecessary expense. Treating the cause of male infertility may also be cheaper, more successful, and less invasive, and can allow the couple to conceive naturally without having to go through IVF. One would hesitate to conclude that fertility clinics are purposely ignoring the possibility of male infertility issues when proposing a course of painful, possible dangerous and certainly expensive IFV treatments; but fertility is big business, even in countries with socialized medicine. It would appear, that once again, women’s minds and bodies are perceived by some as just ambulatory profit centers. See full story below…

From: Mail Online

By Rachel Ellis

Last updated at 9:30 AM on 24th January 2012

When Mark Griffiths and his girlfriend Jeanette Parker still hadn’t conceived after a year of trying, they went to their GP.

He referred them to a gynaecologist and, after a series of scans and tests, it was suggested that Jeanette, 38, might have a blocked fallopian tube.

She underwent four minor procedures which cleared the blockage, at least partially.

Tests on Mark also revealed that while his sperm count was reasonable, the volume of semen was small and the sperm itself ‘acidic’.

However, the gynaecologist dismissed this as nothing serious.

‘He made a joke about making sure you hit the pot and nothing more was said about it,’ recalls Mark, 42, from Portsmouth.

It was only after Jeanette, a personal assistant, had undergone three unsuccessful IVF cycles — costing £15,000 — plus the removal of one of her two fallopian tubes, which had to be removed after an ectopic pregnancy, that doctors suggested that, in fact, the problem might be with Mark’s sperm.

He was referred to a specialist male fertility doctor who diagnosed a blocked ejaculatory duct. This was preventing the normal volume of semen being released.

The condition, which causes up to 5 per cent of cases of male infertility, may be triggered by a cyst or scarring due to prostate infections.

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Monsanto Land was Poisoned and the Barren Women Cried.

Leslie Carol Botha — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:59:16 +0000

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Blott R

First posted: Monday, 16 January, 2012 – 16:17

Last updated: Tuesday, 17 January, 2012 – 08:57

Human Fertility Today Scores Less than 50% of Levels 20 years ago
So what has changed in our environment to affect mankind’s fertility in such a drastic manner, and please, be assured that this is a presently occurring catastrophe.

I follow a guy called Dr.Mercola,(USA) who has one of the world’s leading natural health websites.He recently had an interview with Dr.Huber,who is an expert in an area of science that relates to the toxicity of genetically engineered (GE) foods.His specific areas of training include soil bourne diseases, microbial ecology, and host-parasite relationships.Dr. Huber also taught plant pathology, soil microbiology, and micro-ecological interactions, as a staff Professor at Purdue University for 35 years, eminently expert and qualified.

The major danger of genetically engineered foods may be related to the increased use of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s weed killer Glyphosate,the most common weed killer in the US and just happens to be more toxic than DDT. Roundup, can accumulate and persist in the soil for years, where it kills off beneficial microbes and stimulates virulence of pathogens. Organic farms, are not doused with Glyphosate and therefore the plants are not prone to disease and retain all the nutrients as nature intended.

India has already suffered with thousands of suicides, democracy, like gold and silver, is in the hands of the 1.2 billion “ghandis” the government will never be able to subjugate or control.In India, this experiment has had catastrophic results with thousands of suicides as the farmers soon get in debt with the seed companies. GM seeds do not propagate, therefore have to be bought every year, coupled with failing crops, the poor Indian farmer had to save his honour by drinking poison and killing himself.

India is at the forefront of the battle against GM giant Monsanto with bio-piracy charges as the company used a local brinjal plant to genetically modify, an attempt to patent a staple of the Indian diet.These people cannot patent nature, but they sure are trying and they must be stopped.Also recently India postponed plans to allow in Walmart and Tesco India, the master recyclers of the planet, truly inspirational, even those in abject poverty have an inventiveness and vitality for life.

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Adverse Health Outcomes in Women Exposed In Utero to Diethylstilbestrol (DES)

Leslie Carol Botha — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 20:20:25 +0000

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New England Journal of Medicine

Robert N. Hoover, M.D., Sc.D., Marianne Hyer, M.S., Ruth M. Pfeiffer, Ph.D., Ervin Adam, M.D., Brian Bond, M.D., Andrea L. Cheville, M.D., Theodore Colton, Sc.D., Patricia Hartge, Sc.D., Elizabeth E. Hatch, Ph.D., Arthur L. Herbst, M.D., Beth Y. Karlan, M.D., Raymond Kaufman, M.D., Kenneth L. Noller, M.D., Julie R. Palmer, Sc.D., Stanley J. Robboy, M.D., Robert C. Saal, M.S.W., William Strohsnitter, D.Sc., Linda Titus-Ernstoff, Ph.D., and Rebecca Troisi, Sc.D.

N Engl J Med 2011; 365:1304-1314October 6, 2011

Background

Before 1971, several million women were exposed in utero to diethylstilbestrol (DES) given to their mothers to prevent pregnancy complications. Several adverse outcomes have been linked to such exposure, but their cumulative effects are not well understood.

Methods

We combined data from three studies initiated in the 1970s with continued long-term follow-up of 4653 women exposed in utero to DES and 1927 unexposed controls. We assessed the risks of 12 adverse outcomes linked to DES exposure, including cumulative risks to 45 years of age for reproductive outcomes and to 55 years of age for other outcomes, and their relationships to the baseline presence or absence of vaginal epithelial changes, which are correlated with a higher dose of, and earlier exposure to, DES in utero.

Results

Cumulative risks in women exposed to DES, as compared with those not exposed, were as follows: for infertility, 33.3% vs. 15.5% (hazard ratio, 2.37; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.05 to 2.75); spontaneous abortion, 50.3% vs. 38.6% (hazard ratio, 1.64; 95% CI, 1.42 to 1.88); preterm delivery, 53.3% vs. 17.8% (hazard ratio, 4.68; 95% CI, 3.74 to 5.86); loss of second-trimester pregnancy, 16.4% vs. 1.7% (hazard ratio, 3.77; 95% CI, 2.56 to 5.54); ectopic pregnancy, 14.6% vs. 2.9% (hazard ratio, 3.72; 95% CI, 2.58 to 5.38); preeclampsia, 26.4% vs. 13.7% (hazard ratio 1.42; 95% CI, 1.07 to 1.89); stillbirth, 8.9% vs. 2.6% (hazard ratio, 2.45; 95% CI, 1.33 to 4.54); early menopause, 5.1% vs. 1.7% (hazard ratio, 2.35; 95% CI, 1.67 to 3.31); grade 2 or higher cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, 6.9% vs. 3.4% (hazard ratio, 2.28; 95% CI, 1.59 to 3.27); and breast cancer at 40 years of age or older, 3.9% vs. 2.2% (hazard ratio, 1.82; 95% CI, 1.04 to 3.18). For most outcomes, the risks among exposed women were higher for those with vaginal epithelial changes than for those without such changes.

Conclusions

In utero exposure of women to DES is associated with a high lifetime risk of a broad spectrum of adverse health outcomes. (Funded by the National Cancer Institute.)

Supported by the Intramural Research Program of the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics of the National Cancer Institute.

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Yet another medical experiment on women gone bad…

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Falling Fertility Rates Around The World Will Cause Mass Depopulation

Leslie Carol Botha — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 19:26:15 +0000

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Prevent Disease

The Economist reported this week that falling fertility rates around the world spell doom for many countries as the single life appeals to more women than replacing themselves through children.

For hundreds of years, the world’s population has grown steadily. But demographers now believe that within several decades, the number of people on earth will actually begin to decline. Women in the wealthier parts of Asia, for example, are literally on a “marriage strike” leading to a drop in birth rates.

The United Nations reports women in 83 countries and territories around the globe won’t have enough daughters to replace themselves unless fertility rates suddenly rise.

“What we’re seeing now in many countries is the drop in fertility is so fast, it’s literally without precedent in human history,” said Phil Longman, a demographer at the New America Foundation research group in Washington D.C.

“What it’s going to mean is that countries like China for example, are going to age in a single generation as much as countries like France aged in 150 years,” said Mr. Longman.

Fertility specialist Rima Abdul said there are several reasons for the decline. “We have increased pollution, increased toxins in the food supply and its packaging, increased toxins in our water supply, and increased toxins in pharmaceutical drugs and vaccinations which all inevitably leads to a decrease in fertility rates in developed nations,” she said.

Sub-replacement fertility is a total fertility rate (TFR) that (if sustained) leads to each new generation being less populous than the previous one in a given area. In developed countries sub-replacement fertility is any rate below approximately 2.1 children born per woman, but the threshold can be as high as 3.4 in some developing countries because of higher mortality rates.

The total fertility rate (TFR, sometimes also called the fertility rate, period total fertility rate (PTFR) or total period fertility rate (TPFR)) of a population is the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime if (1) she were to experience the exact current age-specific fertility rates (ASFRs) through her lifetime, and (2) she were to survive from birth through the end of her reproductive life.

A population that maintained a TFR of 2.0 over a long time would decline (unless it had a large enough immigration). However, it may take several generations for a change in the total fertility rate to be reflected in birth rate, because the age distribution must reach equilibrium.

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Chemo may have lasting effect on fertility

Leslie Carol Botha — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 19:19:45 +0000

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Irish Health

August 27, 2011
by Deborah Condon www.irishhealth.com]

Chemotherapy may have a greater effect on a woman’s fertility than first estimated, a new study indicates.

According to US researchers, previous studies have tended to focus on whether a woman’s periods come back after treatment. The absence of menstruation is known as amenorrhoea and until now, it has been viewed as one of the main reproductive side-effects associated with chemotherapy.

It has long been thought that once periods return, a woman can consider herself fertile again.

“However, we found chemotherapy essentially narrows a woman’s reproductive window by causing a range of damage to the ovaries, even if her menses (periods) resume after chemotherapy,” explained lead researcher, Dr Mitchell Rosen, of the University of California, San Francisco.

Over 1,000 women aged between 18 and 40 took part in the study. All had been diagnosed with one of five types of cancer – breast cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, leukaemia, Hodgkin’s disease and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

The researchers found that 5% of those with gastrointestinal cancer who were treated with chemotherapy suffered acute ovarian failure – in other words, their periods never resumed. This figure rose to 8% for those with Hodgkin’s disease, 9% for those with breast cancer and 10% for those with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

However, the study also found that among those who did not experience acute ovarian failure, the risk of infertility increased with age at the time of diagnosis. For example, among women with Hodgkin’s disease, almost one in five who were aged 20 at the time of diagnosis were found to be infertile. But this jumped to almost six in 10 women when they were aged 35 at the time of diagnosis.

The study also found that women were significantly more likely to experience an early menopause – before the age of 45 – the younger they were when they were diagnosed with cancer. For example, among those diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, over half aged 20 could expect an early menopause, compared to less than one in five 35-year-olds.

The researchers called for further studies in this area.

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Fertility options for women who’s ‘biological clock’s are running out – Tonight on Holy Hormones Honey!

Leslie Carol Botha — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 21:28:08 +0000

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08.15.11 Author Rachel Lehmann- Haupt will join me to discuss her book ‘In Her Own Sweet Time – Unexpected Adventures in Finding Love, Commitment and Motherhood‘ on Holy Hormones Honey Radio on KRFC FM on Monday August 15.

At thirty-one, Rachel Lehmann-Haupt thought she had everything: the perfect boyfriend, an exciting career, and the promise of marriage and children in her future. But one year later, the relationship ended and she found herself starting over, consumed by a rapidly approaching deadline: age thirty-five, the dividing line between a regular and a “high risk” pregnancy. Lehmann-Haupt explores fertility options for women who’s ‘biological clock’s are running out. Her book is a fascinating trip through a brave new world of technologically enhanced maternity.

Rachel Lehmann-Haupt is also an essayist and journalist. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, The New York Observer, New York, Outside, Salon.com, Self, Vogue, Business Week, O magazine, and Alternet.com. She holds a BA in English Literature from Kenyon College, and an MA from The Graduate School of Journalism at The University of California at Berkeley. She has also written a column for MSN Money and served as executive editor of Plum magazine. She lives in the West Village in Manhattan.

Tune in at http://www.krfcfm.org and listen via audio stream between 6 to 7 pm MST.

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Drug May Prevent Chemo-Linked Menopause in Breast Cancer Patients

Leslie Carol Botha — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 05:34:06 +0000

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But, experts say treatment may not preserve fertility, has drawbacks

Healthday

Posted: July 19, 2011

By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, July 19 (HealthDay News) — Giving the ovaries a rest when young women with breast cancer are undergoing chemotherapy may help prevent early menopause and preserve fertility.

According to new research in the July 20 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, shutting down the ovaries by giving the hormone triptorelin when a patient is undergoing chemotherapy helped prevent early menopause.

Triptorelin appears to protect the ovaries by halting ovarian function temporarily, although it’s not entirely clear why. The authors found that among women who took triptorelin in addition to chemotherapy, more than 63 percent regained the ability to menstruate, compared to about 50 percent of the women who had chemotherapy alone.

The study authors suggest that this option could help women with breast cancer who want to prevent early menopause. About 6 percent of women with breast cancer are diagnosed before age 40, and chemotherapy is often associated with premature menopause.

But, experts not involved with the study had reservations about the use of triptorelin.

The treatment could have drawbacks, said Dr. Lauren Cassell, chief of breast surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

“Just because you resume menses [menstruation] doesn’t mean that you’re going to have fertilization. You don’t really know how this is going to affect long-term outcomes,” she said.

Dr. Paula Ryan, a medical oncologist with Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia had the same two concerns: that adding triptorelin might affect long-term breast cancer outcomes and may not even preserve fertility.

“I wouldn’t take this study and ultimately suggest that it be the standard of care,” she said.

The study looked only at younger, premenopausal women with breast cancer — aged 18 to 45 — and only those who had earlier-stage breast cancer.

Some 40 percent of women undergoing chemotherapy experience early menopause, although the incidence is more likely with certain types of chemo.

Right now, the best option for women with breast cancer wanting to have children or at least the option of having children is to go through in vitro fertilization before treatment, then have the embryo preserved, said Ryan.

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