Two Israeli gay men may have started a trend in India when they became the first known same-sex couple to ‘father’ children through a surrogacy programme in Mumbai. The gay couple have left the country with their twins, a boy and a girl, who were delivered this September at Hiranandani Hospital.

A Canadian woman has frozen her eggs in the hope that her daughter may use them in later life. Lawyer Melanie Bolvin's decision has instigated a fierce ethical debate on the nature of egg donation, particularly as the result could mean that her daughter, Flavie, will one day give birth to a child who would also be her sister.

A previously unreported form of twinning in humans has been discovered in America. The twins - dubbed 'semi-identical' - are thought to be the result of a single egg being fertilised with two sperm, and then splitting. Double fertilisations are thought to account for around one per cent of all conceptions, but rarely survive.

Doctors based at the New York Downtown Hospital, have been given the go-ahead to begin screening women to undergo the first womb transplant in the US. The procedure will involve the removal and transferral of a uterus from a dead donor to a female recipient. After waiting three months, the recipient's own IVF embryo, previously frozen, will be introduced. If the implantation andensuing pregnancy is successful, it is planned that the child will be delivered by Caesarean section to reduce the risk of complications. The uterus would then be removed and discarded to minimize the chances of tissue rejection. The procedure has been initially approved by the New York Downtown Hospital ethics board, which will reconsider its position after the first female patient is chosen.

A 67-year old Spanish woman has become the world's oldest mother, after giving birth to twins at the end of last month. The woman and her sons are in good health, following a smooth delivery, a spokesman for the Sant Pau hospital in Barcelona said. According to newspaper reports, the Andalucian woman, who has no other children, became pregnant following IVF treatment in the US.

A surgeon in New York has been given the go-ahead to carry out a womb transplant. The procedure has been tried once before in humans in Saudi Arabia in 2000, but the organ had to be removed after 100 days when a blood clot formed in the connecting blood vessels. Now, Dr Giuseppe Del Priore has received approval to carry out the procedure by the review board of New York Downtown Hospital.

Doctors at Hammersmith Hospital, London, aim to carry out the first successful womb transplant within two years, reported the Evening Standard. Doctors say that the womb would be taken from a dead donor and will only remain in the recipient for two or three years, or until a baby is born.

Men wishing to father a baby should avoid air pollution around the time of conception to ensure best quality sperm, research suggests.


A study in Human Reproduction found a significant link between exposure to periods of high air pollution and damaged sperm among men.  more...