Originally published February 16 2006
Fertility clinics becoming storage facilities for healthy young couples looking to build families later in life
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Dr. Simon Fishel, director of the CARE Fertility center at the Park hospital in Nottingham, discusses the trend of healthy young couples that are now turning to fertility clinics to preserve their eggs and sperm so that they can have a family later in life, after their career has been established.
Fertility clinics are gearing up to open their doors to fertile couples seeking treatment as a lifestyle choice rather than a medical necessity, experts said yesterday.
Advances in medical techniques, which centre on safe and effective ways to preserve fertility, mean healthy people will routinely be able to store eggs and sperm produced in their prime for use at a later date.
The shift reflects a rise in what some fertility specialists have called the "have it all generation" who do not want to compromise between career and family.
"The great problem we've got now is you can't have your cake and eat it," said Dr Simon Fishel, director of the CARE Fertility centre at the Park hospital in Nottingham.
Article continues Research is focusing on refining techniques to freeze good quality eggs taken from women in their 20s and early 30s, as female fertility drops dramatically beyond the age of 35.
Only a handful of clinics in Britain offer egg-freezing services and the option is almost entirely reserved for women due to have radiotherapy for cancer or who have been through one cycle of IVF and object to having spare eggs fertilised and frozen.
There are no signs yet that egg freezing has health implications for the baby, and medical experts say the safety and success rate of the procedure is improving.
Eggs are the largest cells in the human body and because they contain a lot of fluid, must be delicately dehydrated before freezing to prevent ice crystals cracking them.
Peter Braude, a fertility specialist at King's College London, said further medical advances will emerge this year allowing fertility clinics to test embryos for any disease that runs in a family.
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