The first private fertility centre in Europe that exclusively caters for lesbian couples and single women opened today in London. The Harley Street centre does not yet have a licence to carry out treatments or store sperm, but its application is being considered by the UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology...
Two British women have launched a High Court action challenging the law that says that their stored frozen embryos must be destroyed. Natallie Evans and Lorraine Hadley both have embryos that were stored before they underwent medical treatments, but their former partners have withdrawn their consent to use them. Under...
A new genetic testing machine, the 'size of a shoebox', could soon be available in doctor's surgeries and pharmacies, in order to test, using saliva, blood or urine, whether a person has a susceptibility to a particular illness or genetic condition. The portable machine could also be used by travellers...
Scientists have found more evidence that cloned animals tend to have genetic defects which cause them to have abnormalities or low survival rates, supporting the suggestion that human reproductive cloning would not be viable. Rudolf Jaenisch and his team, from the Whitehead Centre for Biomedical Research in Massachusetts, US, studied...
The world's first national stem cell bank is to open in the UK within one year. The UK's government-funded Medical Research Council (MRC) has awarded the contract for the stem cell bank to the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NISBC) in Hertfordshire. The NISBC is a public body...
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Women only clinic might not be best for everyone
by Juliet Tizzard
Today, a new fertility clinic has opened its doors to business. But it will only offer its services to a select group of people: single women and lesbian couples. Writing as the story breaks, it's not clear exactly what the reaction to the setting up of the clinic will be...