Hum. Reprod. Advance Access originally published online on November 10, 2006
Human Reproduction 2007 22(3):902; doi:10.1093/humrep/del443
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Letters to the editor |
Considerations of third-party reproduction in Iran
Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Centre and Medical Ethics and History of Medicine Research Centre, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
1 To whom correspondence should be addressed at: Medical Ethics and History of Medicine Research Centre, and Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center, 5th floor, Shariati Hospital, North Kargar Avenue, Tehran 14114, Iran. E-mail: fzahedi{at}tums.ac.ir
Sir,
We have read the article written by Isikoglu et al. published in January 2006 issue of this journal with interest. We would like to mention some points about the situation of gamete donation in Iran that authors have also pointed out in the discussion.
Based on the decree (Fatwa) by the spiritual leader of Iran, donor technologies are permitted and could be effectively used. According to this Fatwa, oocyte donation is not in and by itself forbidden, and also, it is not prohibited to fertilize a woman’s oocyte with a sperm donor in and by itself, but the opposite gender should avoid touching or seeing the woman or man (Inhorn, 2003
, 2006; Khamanei, 2004). Owing to this Fatwa, ‘the Act of Embryo Donation to Infertile Couples’ was ratified by the parliament in 2003.
Nevertheless, it needs to be remembered that although the consensus of physicians and religious leaders has paved the way for progress of third-party-assisted reproduction in Iran, there are numerous ethical, legal, psychological and socio-cultural issues that could have important influences on application of these technologies in practice. The issues of new forms of kinship, the importance of safeguarding lineage, welfare of the resulting child and inheritance would be challenging concerns. Some aspects of the issue were discussed at the Conference of Gamete and Embryo Donation in Infertility Treatment (1–2 March 2006, Tehran, Iran). The abstracts are available at the website of Avesina Research Center (http://www.avesina.org/Journals/Seminars/11.pdf). However, before any regulations in the field of third-party reproduction can be defined, seeking appropriate approaches for managing the consequences is necessary. Currently, this is the main responsibility and concern of those who are in charge of policy-making in this field in Iran, despite the acceptance of new technologies by Islamic scholars and approval by the community.
For these reasons, the new act is silent on such techniques as sperm donation. We hope that along with taking these important issues into consideration, the parliament will pave the way for authorization of other required regulations.
References
Inhorn M. (2003) Local Babies, Global Science: Gender, Religion, and In Vitro Fertilization in Egypt 1st edn (Routledge and Taylor & Francis Group Ltd, Oxford, UK.).
Inhorn M. (2006) Local babies, global science: gender, religion, and gamete donation in Egypt and Lebanon. Essays on Gamete and Embryo Donation in Infertility Treatment: From Medical, Theological, Legal, Ethical, Psychological and Sociological Approaches(Avesina Research Center and SAMT Publications, Tehran, Iran) pp. 414–425.
Isikoglu M, Senol Y, Berkkanoglu M, Ozgur K, Donmez L, Stones-Abbasi A. (2006) Public opinion regarding oocyte donation in Turkey: first data from a secular population among the Islamic world. Hum Reprod 21:1318–323.
Khamanei SA. (2004) Answers to the Reference Questions, Courtesy of Seyyed Ali Khamanei 5th edn (Hoda International Publications, Tehran, Iran (in Farsi).).
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||