Vulnerable would-be parents being sold 'false hope' by overseas IVF clinics, regulator warns
By Alex Matthews-King,
The Independent
| 04. 13. 2018
People hoping to be parents in the UK are being sold “false hope” by foreign IVF clinics claiming success rates as high as 98 per cent based on highly selective data, the national fertility regulator has warned.
These clinics are exhibiting at UK events for couples considering fertility treatment and making claims that no UK IVF provider would be allowed to make, said Sally Cheshire, chair of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA).
The regulator said it was powerless to regulate overseas clinics, while fertility experts said some clinics are capitalising on the hopes of vulnerable people and could be dangerous if they led with these inflated claims of success.
HFEA data on UK clinics in 2016 shows that for women under the age of 35 – who have the best odds of getting pregnant through IVF – on average each round of embryo implantation has just a 32.5 per cent chance.
But one Cyprus clinic, part of the international fertility group Bahceci, says on its website: “We have up to 97.82 per cent pregnancy rates thanks to the...
Related Articles
By Elizabeth Dwoskin and Zoeann Murphy, The Washington Post | 10.01.2025
MEXICO CITY — When she walked into an IVF clinic in June, Alin Quintana knew it would be the last time she would try to conceive a child. She had prepared herself spiritually and mentally for the visit: She had traveled to a nearby...
By Rob Stein, NPR | 09.30.2025
Scientists have created human eggs containing genes from adult skin cells, a step that someday could help women who are infertile or gay couples have babies with their own genes but would also raise difficult ethical, social and legal issues...
By Jessica Mouzo, El País | 10.03.2025
DNA is the molecule of life: this double-helix structure, present in every cell in the body and organized into fragments called genes, stores the instructions for making organisms function. It is a highly precise biological machine, but sometimes it breaks...
GeneWatch UK has prepared a briefing on the genetic modification of nature for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Congress in October 2025
The upcoming Congress claims to be “where the world comes together to set priorities and drive conservation and sustainable development action.” A major concern for those on the outside is that the Congress may advance plans to develop and encourage the use of synthetic biology in nature conservation. This could at first glance sound like...
