Concerns over egg-sharing scheme

According to the London Evening Standard newspaper last week, Professor Ian Craft, director of the London Fertility Centre, takes advantage of women who cannot afford to come to his clinic for expensive IVF treatment by offering them free treatment in return for their having donating an entire cycle of their eggs for use in other infertile patients.

Following the report, other fertility experts called for his methods to be investigated by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), Britain's infertility watchdog. Professor Allan Templeton, from Aberdeen University, said 'many of us have serious reservations about egg-sharing in general, but although we have heard of egg-giving we have not come across actual examples. If it is going on, it would not be approved by any of the responsible fertility organisations. It is shocking, quite inappropriate and clinics doing this should be investigated. This is preying on desperate women'.

Ann Furedi, spokeswoman for the HFEA, said that Professor Craft would only be investigated if a formal complaint was made, adding 'at the moment, the procedure which has been described would not be illegal, nor would it be against the code of practice'. However, later reports indicate that the General Medical Council (GMC) is already looking at other issues relating to Professor Craft's clinic.

Meanwhile, a pro-life group has launched a legal challenge against the HFEA, for its decision to allow in principle the use of embryo screening with tissue typing. Specifically, it criticises the decision to allow the parents of Zain Hashmi to use the technique in order to try and give birth to a sibling that could provide bone marrow for transplant. After a day-long hearing at the High Court, the judge reserved his decision which he said he hoped to announce before Christmas.