The legacy of IVF

It was entirely fitting that amongst many meetings convened to celebrate the 30^th anniversary of the world's first IVF baby the Association of Clinical Embryologists should choose Manchester as the venue for its annual conference; a few miles from Oldham General Hospital where Louise Brown was born. For the major Symposium of the conference the ACE had invited Robert Edwards to speak on ‘30 years of IVF’; John Biggers to talk on ‘50 years of embryo culture’; Brian Lieberman, on ‘25 years of NHS IVF’ and Alan Doran, HFEA Interim Chief Executive, on ‘20 years of regulation’. The task of summarising the Symposium was given to Geraldine Hartshorne who has done this admirably; distilling the essence of each speaker's contribution whilst presenting a valuable context of her own; much of it informed from working alongside Robert Edwards for many years. Hartshorne (2008) is an important historical document that Human Fertility is proud to publish. If Hartshorne mainly reflects on the past, Huntriss and Picton (2008) focus more on the future and the possible effects of assisted reproductive technologies on the epigenetic status of the gametes and early human embryo; an area which animal studies indicate needs to be monitored carefully over the coming years. The need for a close eye to be kept on epigenetic effects during the In Vitro Maturation of oocytes is picked up by Barry Bavister, in his review (Bavister, 2008) of a book by Seang Lin Tan and colleagues.

One of the many ramifications of IVF is the ongoing discussion on openness in the disclosure of information about the origins of children conceived following donor conception. This has led to widespread debate in the public arena as well as the academic literature with good examples of the latter provided by two timely articles in the current issue which offer different perspectives on related issues: the first discusses a survey of Prospective parents' intentions following the removal of donor anonymity’ (Crawshaw 2008) while the second (Brett et al 2008), considers the effect of loss of donor anonymity on the recruitment of egg donors. Differing opinions on the issue of donor anonymity are later discussed by Olivia Montuschi in a review of a book by Alexina McWhinnie entitled ‘Who am I? Experiences of Donor Conception’ (Montuschi 2008).

The evidence base in infertility practice and research is patchy and there continue to be large gaps in knowledge in all areas. Thus, Maheshwari and colleagues conclude ‘there are no reliable predictors of fertility that can guide women as to how long childbearing can be deferred’ (Maheshwari et al 2008) and Duffy et al (2008) in a survey of the practice of offering pain relief during hysterosalpingography reveal wide variation in clinical practice–which may reflect the sparsity of evidence contained within the literature. In an attempt to address such concerns, the BFS, amongst its principal roles, aims:

• To provide a common forum for members of various disciplines, with an interest in infertility, reproductive medicine and biology, to meet and discuss practice, research, policy and ethics for the advancement of the subject.

• To promote high quality practice and research by holding scientific meetings and poster sessions, symposia and workshops for educational purposes.

• To publish material aimed at promoting high standards in the discipline.

The production of good practice guidelines falls within the remit of the BFS Policy and Practice Committee (and the equivalent Committees of the constituent groups), through which the latest document on The current status of preimplantation genetic screening: British Fertility Society Policy and Practice Guidelines has been produced. This authoratitive, expertly written document was drafted by Richard Anderson and Sue Pickering, to whom the BFS and the constituent societies are greatly indebted. The document was subject to extensive consultation, prior to and following drafting and the hope is it will be widely read. In order to encourage this, our publishers, Informa Healthcare, have agreed to make the electronic version of this, and future such documents, freely available for 6 months via the Human Fertility website http://www/informaworld.com/HumanFertility.