Universal European regulations for fertility treatment are needed to reduce legal differences between countries that are encouraging “reproductive tourism”, one of the Continent’s most senior IVF specialists said yesterday.

National laws banning infertility therapies that are available elsewhere in the European Union are denying couples the chance to start a family and driving others to seek expensive treatment abroad, according to Professor Paul Devroey, of Brussels Free University.

Many assisted reproduction techniques that are considered to be best practice in some EU member states are heavily restricted or outlawed in others, and safety measures introduced in parts of Europe are contravened routinely elsewhere. Germany and Italy, for example, ban embryo-freezing, egg donation and embryo-screening for inherited diseases, forcing couples who need these services to pay for treatment in countries that permit them, such as Britain, Spain and Belgium.

Thousands of British couples who require donated eggs have become fertility tourists, travelling to Spain, Cyprus and Eastern Europe. Britain has a long waiting list, mainly because donors can be paid a maximum of just £250 for expenses and lost earnings.

Rules on the maximum number of embryos that can be transferred to a woman’s womb also differ widely, despite the scientific consensus that the safest policy is to limit implants.

In Britain, Scandinavia and the Low Countries, only one or two embryos may be used, to prevent multiple births, by far the biggest hazard of IVF treatment. Germany and Italy insist that every embryo created is implanted, increasing that risk.

Professor Devroey, chairman of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE), told The Times that there was an urgent need for uniformity based on the best scientific advice, to secure access to effective treatments and to protect patients.

He is setting up a task force to compare legislation and to propose a basic set of standards, and he wants the European Commission and the European Parliament to consider how rules might be harmonised. “The human right to reproduction and access to assisted reproductive technology \ for infertile couples should be preserved in similar legislation throughout Europe as part of a unified strategy to address human infertility,” Professor Devroey said.

“These laws should aim to ensure that ART treatment is safe, constructive and reimbursed. The reality, however, is that legislation varies greatly between countries in Europe. Some countries, such as Belgium and the UK, take a very rational and liberal approach to ART and implement practice guidelines or/and legislation in response to published data. In contrast, other countries appear to dismiss or misuse scientific findings, which may increase the risk to the mother or child.”

Speaking at State of the ART, a satellite meeting held before the ESHRE annual conference in Lyons, which opens today, Professor Devroey said he accepted that countries would want to set their own policies on controversial issues such as treatment for lesbians and single women. Similar standards should apply, though, when the scientific evidence was clear.

“There is only one human body and human reproductive system,” he said. “It is quite astonishing that well-proven treatments are not allowed in some countries, some of which also have laws on embryo transfer that are not in the best interests of patients’ health. What this has done is to build medical tourism into a billion-euro market. It’s very sad for me to see patients coming to my clinic because their countries’ own laws are needlessly restrictive, and sadder still for the patients.”

Bill Ledger, of the University of Sheffield, said that he agreed with Professor Devroey’s sentiments but doubted whether EU action would be possible or desirable. “He is absolutely right that some countries have over-restrictive policies that are bad for patients, but I am not sure that going to the EU is the best way to resolve this,” Professor Ledger said.

“It is hard to see politically how Germany and Italy will be persuaded to take another line, and once Brussels gets involved you never know what you will end up with. It could be that the more conservative countries will try to overturn the liberal systems we have in Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands, as they have attempted with stem-cell research.”

The EU would do better to look into basic clinical standards for fertility treatment, so that IVF patients in every country could be assured of high-quality care, he said.

Pregnancy test

30,818: number of patients in UK undergoing IVF (April 2003 - March 2004)

10,175: number of children born in this period through IVF

3.5m: estimated number of people who have difficulty conceiving (one in seven couples affected)

28.1%: success rate for women under 35 undergoing IVF using fresh eggs

1.4%: success rate for women aged over 44 undergoing IVF using fresh eggs

Source: Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority

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