# DAILY MAIL ARTICLE - 17TH JULY06



## roze (Mar 20, 2004)

I found this article on line whilst doing some general internet research- its the usual stuff about the' baby' trade' etc but one line caught my eye-

*'the HFEA hopes new European rules on the trade. due to come into force next year, will help control its worst excesses.'*[/b]

Does anyone know what these rules are?

The article can be found on www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/text/print.html?in_article_id=396220 
if this link doesn't work try ' The misery behind the baby trade' by Fran Abrams, 17.07-06, Femail section.

There are some interesting comments about a UK clinic.....

roze

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## AlmaMay (Oct 15, 2004)

I thought the article was very inflamatory and possibly libelous.


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## crusoe (Jun 3, 2005)

I hate the thought of anyone being exploited at my expense but this is a very unbalanced and inflamatory article in my opinion.
I would like to know what the new European rules are too.
Trust the HFEA to be in on another plan to prevent people receiving treatment!

Crusoe


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## AlmaMay (Oct 15, 2004)

Here is information on the EU Directive that I think they might be talking about:
http://www.dh.gov.uk/Consultations/LiveConsultations/LiveConsultationsArticle/fs/en?CONTENT_ID=4136740&chk=oHvkpR

The UK will be the last country in Europe to adopt the Directive. I believe the HFEA delayed the implementation because the UK standards aren't up to scratch with the rest of Europe (no surprises there) and needed time.

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## roze (Mar 20, 2004)

I have glanced through these docs but cant see anything which impacts on abroadies. The Daily Mail article suggests some pending control over how people seek treatment abroad. Is this the case, do you think?

roze


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## AlmaMay (Oct 15, 2004)

I found this posted by Lorna

Many organisations try to influence the government. Organisations like the Christian Medical Fellowship. http://www.cmf.org.uk/ have enormous influence with the press/government. And they have some interesting views.
Normally laws only apply to the country, in which a crime occurs. But for very serious crimes, the UK has something called extra territorial jurisdiction. This means, if a British Citizen was to commit mass murder in China, they could be tried for that crime in the UK. But the Christian Medical Fellowship believes extra territorial jurisdiction should be applied to those who go abroad for treatment. point383 http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200405/cmselect/cmsctech/7/7i.pdf 

I think the idea of controls over people having treatment aboad is completely unworkable and won't happen. EU law would prevent UK law from any type of regulation like this.

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## Lorna (Apr 8, 2004)

I have only read the odd piece produced by the EU, but IMO, ESHRE (European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology) has its head even further up its nether regions than the HFEA.
Let’s look at Europe.  In France, a woman can only do egg share. A woman is *not* allowed to donate her eggs, unless she is undergoing IVF, herself.  Surrogacy is banned in most European countries.  The Finnish government doesn’t understand surrogacy, so has just banned it.  Italian laws were written by the catholic church.  The Catholic church, orthodox church etc., are a big influence in many countries.  Germany is still trying to get over the war, so won’t allow anything that even remotely hints at Eugenics, so is against most form of testing.  And I have heard a rumour that in some European countries, you are not allowed to terminate a pregnancy, *even* if you the unborn child has a gross foetal abnormalities, ie the kind that means the child will die soon after birth.  And so on and so on.
In comparison to most of Europe, the UK has some very liberal laws.  Believe it or not.  
As far as I am concerned the rules are definitely not about “best” practice.  I know everyone thinks me crazy, but my conclusion is that the rules are about the control of women.
So getting back to European rules, I do hope, the UK doesn’t adopt anything from Europe, especially the EU Charter Of Fundamental Rights, as discussed in Cologne in June 1999.  For instance, it bans all eugenic practices.  That well may mean, no genetic screening, no PGD, no prenatal testing, no abortion, and so on.  The most basic definition of Eugenics, is to improve the human race, and eliminating devastating genetic diseases like Duchene Muscular dystrophy, can be considered carrying out eugenic practices, and under the EU Charter Of Fundamental Rights could be banned.  The EU Charter Of Fundamental Rights, never intended to eliminate genetic screening, PGD, prenatal testing, and so on, but the more extreme groups (CORE for instance) could use the charter to ban *all* types of embryo selection, or even ban abortion!
So I wouldn’t look to Europe to make things, because, from what little I have read, Europe politicians would prefer to tighten up UK laws, not relax them.

Lorna


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## AlmaMay (Oct 15, 2004)

Hi Lorna - Glad you found this thread.  I've always thought your posts were so incredibly informative and you've read so much.  

I know that European countries can regulate their own IF law but I seriously doubt that the UK could criminalise say for instance myself as I am having my next fresh cycle in Warsaw because I want 5 embryos put back.  I was thinking about EU article number maybe 27 or 28 (can't remember) which prevents the UK from imposing any legislation that prevents the limitation of goods and services between EU countries.  IVF is a service and as long as it is legal in the country offering it the UK could not make it illegal for purchasing services in that EU country.  Thats what I was thinking anyway.  

What do you think?


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## Jennifer (Jul 22, 2004)

All I can say, (cos these articles make me so mad) is that I wish there were more articles about the positives - ie reputable clinics offering ED IVF and caring, loving couples receiving donor eggs.  

I have recently spoken to a very sympathetic freelance journo who is writing a positive article on Going Abroad for Treatment and also on Early Menopause - I wish there were more like her.

ps - thanks Lorna for your contributions to these topics   We do appreciate them


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