Couple receive embryos frozen for more than 15yrs

Six embryos frozen for more than 15 years finally have a chance at life after an Auckland family donated them to an infertile couple desperately wanting a baby.

It is believed to be one of the longest periods of time that embryos have been frozen in New Zealand and later transplanted to try to create a baby.

The unique case challenges new fertility laws, which ban keeping embryos left over from in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment for more than a decade without an exemption.

The donor couple, who wanted to remain anonymous, adopted a son 16 years ago and had an IVF son in 1993. They decided they did not want more children but kept their 12 left-over embryos frozen at an Auckland fertility clinic. "When they asked what do you want to do with them, we realised these aren't just eggs, they're embryos. It means destroying them and after all we've gone through, you can't," the donor husband said.

For the past few years, the hospital had sent them a letter asking whether they wanted to continue keeping their embryos frozen or to destroy them. Earlier this year, the letter mentioned a third option - donating the embryos to another couple who had failed to have a child using other fertility methods. "We thought if this can be done, what a great chance to give another family some children," the husband said.

They donated six embryos to an Auckland couple they selected from their fertility clinic's embryo donation waiting list. They said they were waiting to see what happened before deciding what to do with the remaining embryos.

If successful, it would mean their youngest son would have genetic siblings, who were created in the same test tube in February 1993 but born to another couple years later.

The donation process involved separate counselling for both couples and the donor couple's children, culminating in the two families meeting at an emotional session. The embryos are stored at Auckland's Fertility Plus, the fertility and reproductive endocrinology unit for National Women's Health, based at Greenlane Clinical Centre.

Scientific director Margaret Merrilees said it made no difference to chances of success whether the tiny embryos had been frozen one year or 15 years.

The donor couple's application was given the go-ahead by the Ethics Committee on Assisted Reproductive Technology (ECART) in May.

In July 2005 the law changed to allow couples to donate left-over IVF embryos to others trying to have a baby. Anyone wanting to donate had to gain approval because of complex ethical and social issues. Eight couples have since gained approval and none have been declined.

The first embryo donation was approved in March last year and a baby was born this year as a result.

Health officials were still debating whether the ban on storing embryos for longer than 10 years, introduced under the 2004 Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Act, only applied to those frozen after the law came into force.

Last week, the world's first IVF baby, England woman Louise Brown, celebrated her 30th birthday.