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3 weeks ago | 
progress.org.uk | Joanne Delange |Jen Willows
The latest PET event explored whether assisted conception can address challenges posed by falling birthrates and decreasing population sizes. Declining birthrates – both in the UK and around the world – are causing concern because, in conjunction with people living longer, they are contributing to ageing societies and demographic change.
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1 month ago | 
progress.org.uk | Joanne Delange |Jen Willows
I was pleased to be asked by the BioNews editors to attend the opening night of the Fertility Fortunes exhibition, showcasing artworks created as part of the (Mis)Conceptions Project. The exhibition showcased 78 artworks that were the result of a collaboration between the cultural historian Dr Isabel Davis from the Natural History Museum, and the visual artist Anna Burel. They aimed to 'open up conversations on complex and sometimes taboo topics in the fertility space'.
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Dec 16, 2024 | 
progress.org.uk | Jen Willows
The fourth and final session of the 2024 PET (Progress Educational Trust) Annual Conference – '40 Years after the Warnock Report: What Is the Embryo's Special Status?' was sponsored by the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE), whose chair Professor Karen Sermon also acted as session chair.
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Dec 9, 2024 | 
progress.org.uk | Joanne Delange |Jen Willows
The second session of the 2024 PET (Progress Educational Trust) Annual Conference – '40 Years after the Warnock Report: What Is the Embryo's Special Status?' – was chaired by Fiona Fox, chief executive of the Science Media Centre and former chair of trustees at PET. This session – 'What Is the Embryo's Special Status in the Lab?' – focused on the opportunities and challenges presented by the use of human embryos in research.
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Aug 27, 2024 | 
progress.org.uk | Jen Willows
Hear Louise Brown, the world's first IVF baby, in conversation with Elizabeth Carr, the 14th IVF baby and first US IVF birth. These two women, born in 1978 and 1981 respectively discuss their shared experiences on Carr's podcast: 'Born for This'.
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Aug 27, 2024 | 
progress.org.uk | Joanne Delange |Jen Willows
An Australian IVF provider has agreed to pay AU$56 million (£29 million) in compensation to over 700 patients whose embryos may have been wrongly discarded. Monash IVF Group is the largest provider of IVF in the Australian state of Victoria. A lawsuit was brought against them by patients who discarded embryos based on the results of a test that was later revealed to be less accurate than portrayed (see BioNews 1079). The trial had been due to begin in the Victorian Supreme Court in October.
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Aug 12, 2024 | 
progress.org.uk | Jen Willows
Recently, China's National Science and Technology Ethics Committee introduced a new set of ethics guidelines on human genome editing (see BioNews 1247). The guidelines are at least the fourth national level iteration of China's ban on human reproductive genome editing in recent years (following its updates on the Crime Law and Civil Code in 2020, and the ethical review measures in 2023).
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Aug 5, 2024 | 
progress.org.uk | Jen Willows
Dr He Jiankui was imprisoned and subsequently released from prison in China, after using CRISPR-based genome editing to try to make twin girls resistant to contracting HIV. In a new interview, Dr He tells the MIT Technology Review about his current life and work.
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Jul 29, 2024 | 
progress.org.uk | Jen Willows |Stephen Page
The Australian Capital Territory has enacted the Assisted Reproductive Technology Act 2024, which requires the licensing of IVF clinics in the Territory, and sets up a central donor registry, with retrospective transparency from the beginning of donations, allowing all donor-conceived people access to information about their donors.
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Jul 22, 2024 | 
progress.org.uk | Jen Willows |Stephen Page
A bill has been introduced into Queensland's Parliament to regulate IVF clinics and to set up a central donor registry. The Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill 2024 has already been considered by a parliamentary committee, and is expected to be debated in August and enacted before the state election due in October. Repeal donor anonymityIf enacted, the bill will enable donor-conceived people aged 16 or over to learn the identity of their donor – even if donation was anonymous.
