Guest: Dr. Hananel Holzer (MUHC fertility expert)
Audio - March 9, 2009Fertility treatment has been a hot topic in the news this year. On January 26th in California, Nadya Sulemank gave birth to octuplets, bringing her total number of children to 14, all conceived through invitro fertilisation. The story has caused outrage among some people who wonder how a single, unemployed mother can have so many kids when she has no obvious means of supporting them.
This week a fertility clinic in the US sparked controversy by offering parents the ability to select for certain traits in their children, such as eye and hair colour. The science is based on a lab technique called preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). Fertility experts around the world are frustrated that this new service is distracting attention from the importance of technique in protecting against inherited diseases.
Today Dr. Hananel Holzer an MUHC fertility expert based at the McGill Reproductive Centre joins us in the Health Matters studio. Dr. Holzer talks us through some of these recent fertility stories and explains how egg freezing at the MUHC is helping cancer patients preserve their fertility.
Our guest interviews follow the World News In Three Medical Minutes – a regular feature on Health Matters where we summarize the cutting edge medical stories making headlines around the world.
If you have any ideas and suggestions for future shows please contact: healthmatters [at] muhc [dot] mcgill [dot] ca.