{"id":4312,"date":"2022-07-20T05:23:47","date_gmt":"2022-07-20T04:23:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/?p=4312"},"modified":"2022-07-20T05:23:47","modified_gmt":"2022-07-20T04:23:47","slug":"the-new-uk-storage-limit-for-gametes-and-embryos-are-we-ready","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/2022\/07\/20\/the-new-uk-storage-limit-for-gametes-and-embryos-are-we-ready\/","title":{"rendered":"The new UK storage limit for gametes and embryos: are we ready?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: left\" align=\"center\"><span style=\"text-align: justify;font-size: 1rem\">By <span lang=\"EN-GB\">Ilaria Bertini<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: left\" align=\"center\"><span style=\"text-align: justify;font-size: 1rem\">On 1 July 2022 the UK Government <\/span><a style=\"text-align: justify;background-color: #ffffff;font-size: 1rem\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/consultations\/egg-sperm-and-embryo-storage-limits\/outcome\/gamete-egg-sperm-and-embryo-storage-limits-response-to-consultation\">announced<\/a><span style=\"text-align: justify;font-size: 1rem\"> a change in the law on frozen storage of gametes and embryos, with the full support of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). According to the <\/span><a style=\"text-align: justify;background-color: #ffffff;font-size: 1rem\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legislation.gov.uk\/ukpga\/2022\/31\/part\/6\/crossheading\/human-fertilisation-and-embryology\/enacted\">Health and Care Act 2022<\/a><span style=\"text-align: justify;font-size: 1rem\">, fertility patients will now be able to store both embryos and gametes for up to 55 years, providing their consent is given every 10 years, while donors can store their eggs, sperm and embryos for the same amount of time without the need to re-consent every decade. Gametes and embryos can also remain stored for 10 years after the patient\u2019s death if he or she has previously consented to their use post-mortem. <\/span><span style=\"text-align: justify;font-size: 1rem\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: left\"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem\">Prior to this change, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology (HFE) Act 1990, as amended by the HFE Act 2008, set 10 years as the usual storage time limit for gametes and embryos in all circumstances except where they were stored for medical reasons, such as premature infertility. In fact, in this circumstance the storage limit was up to 55 years. During the Covid-19 emergency the HFEA introduced the Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Statutory Storage Period for Embryos and Gametes) (Coronavirus) Regulations 2020 in order to allow an extension of two years storage to the standard 10 years for gametes and embryos in storage on 1 July 2020.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: left\"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem\">According to the HFEA, increasing the statutory time limit will ensure, first, equity for all patients. This change in the law will allow patients to start harvesting their eggs very early in their 20s (so the best eggs in terms of quality and quantity) to give them the opportunity to widen their reproductive choices. People will have longer to decide about having children, and there will be a likely increase in the age of parents who will no longer have to commit to the 10-year deadline. There will also be an increase in availability of donor gametes and embryos since their storage time will rise drastically. This will impact fertility clinics which will be seeing a higher demand on their services on several fronts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: left\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\">However, there remain very real drawbacks in relation to IVF in general, and donor conception in particular.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: left\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\">Given that there is no statutory age limit for undergoing IVF a woman whose eggs were harvested in her 20s, including for social reasons, might carry a pregnancy at an advanced age with an increased risk for both the mother and the baby. A recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC8527686\/pdf\/12884_2021_Article_4178.pdf\">cohort study on adverse pregnancy outcome in older mothers<\/a> \u2013 led by Alex Heazell, Professor of Obstetrics at the University of Manchester and Honorary Consultant Obstetrician at Saint Mary\u2019s Hospital (London) \u2013 observes that advanced maternal age (&gt;35 years) is associated among other factors with higher rates of stillbirth, fetal growth restriction and pre-eclampsia.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: left\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\">A couple might also decide to create and\/or store their embryos for potential use decades later, instead of trying to get pregnant right away. The likelihood that IVF children will be conceived and\/or born after the death of one parent will increase, giving rise to generations of children bereaved before they are born. Furthermore, if fertility treatments take place posthumously, the deceased parent can be named on the birth certificate as a parent, but not for all legal purposes such as property rights and inheritance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: left\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\">Donor offspring will also have a high chance of never meeting their donor, despite their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hfea.gov.uk\/donation\/donors\/rules-around-releasing-donor-information\/\">legal right to know the donor\u2019s identity<\/a>, as he or she may already be deceased. In fact, since 1 April 2005 a person aged 18 conceived through IVF can obtain from the HFEA information about her or his origin (whether it involved donated gametes or embryos) and the donor\u2019s identity (if the donor provided the information after 31 March 2005). There may also be a huge age gap between the offspring and some of their half siblings, including the donor\u2019s social children, although meeting siblings is of interest to many donor-conceived people, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1660-4601\/19\/4\/2002\">young people<\/a> who often value the relationships they form. This might stretch further the new kinds of kinship moulded by assisted reproductive technologies. In fact, from now on donor-conceived children might be related to donor siblings connected via social platforms but also with an age gap which is potentially equal to the one between grandparents and their grandchildren. Might it be possible to admit here that law and technology have gone too far?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: left\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\">To conclude, the question raised by the new change in the law is, then, whether this apparently \u201cinclusive\u201d move from the UK Government will really benefit equally all the actors involved and whether fertility clinics are prepared to face all the consequences of this change in the law.<span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: left\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\">\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: left\"><b><span lang=\"EN-GB\">Author:<\/span><\/b><span lang=\"EN-GB\"> Ilaria Bertini<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: left\"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\">Affiliations:<\/span><\/b><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style=\"font-size: 1rem\"> Bios Centre (UK)<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: left\"><b><span lang=\"EN-GB\">Competing interests: <\/span><\/b><span lang=\"EN-GB\">none<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: left\"><b><span lang=\"EN-GB\">Social media accounts of post author:<\/span><\/b><span lang=\"EN-GB\"> @drilariabertini, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ilaria.bertini.7\">Facebook<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<!--TrendMD v2.4.8--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Ilaria Bertini On 1 July 2022 the UK Government announced a change in the law on frozen storage of gametes and embryos, with the full support of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). According to the Health and Care Act 2022, fertility patients will now be able to store both embryos and gametes [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/2022\/07\/20\/the-new-uk-storage-limit-for-gametes-and-embryos-are-we-ready\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":353,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8073],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-assisted-reproductive-technology"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The new UK storage limit for gametes and embryos: are we ready? - Journal of Medical Ethics blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/2022\/07\/20\/the-new-uk-storage-limit-for-gametes-and-embryos-are-we-ready\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The new UK storage limit for gametes and embryos: are we ready? - Journal of Medical Ethics blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Ilaria Bertini On 1 July 2022 the UK Government announced a change in the law on frozen storage of gametes and embryos, with the full support of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). 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