Latest news with #FertilityandSterility
Sunday World
2 days ago
- Health
- Sunday World
‘I'm not waiting anymore' – The woman behind Ireland's first period shop
Belfast theatre producer Briege Lynch is on a mission to provide women with the quality menstrual products and services they deserve. Briege Lynch wants to change the world, one period at a time. She's stepping back from a career as a theatre producer to open the UK and Ireland's first Period Shop in Belfast. Campaigning Briege plans to focus on products, education and women's wellness including life-changing conditions like endometriosis and PCOS. She's holding a Big Variety Fundraiser later this month as well as launching a GoFundMe campaign, with plans to open a city centre store by Christmas. Belfast theatre producer Briege Lynch News in 90 Seconds - August 14th 'I'm a staunch feminist with no shame,' says Briege. 'My theme at the moment is getting 4,000 people to donate a fiver, and if I have to rap every door in Belfast I'll do it. 'I've been listening to women talking about womb-related conditions and waiting on government to help them, and I'm not waiting anymore.' The 36-year-old is leaving her producer role in GBL Productions, set up by her playwright father Martin, to follow her dream. She's been fired up by the dire lack of research into potentially devastating womb-related conditions for which women can wait between seven and 14 years for a diagnosis. One Italian research paper in 2013 into endometriosis, when tissue similar to the uterine lining grows outside the womb, evaluated the attractiveness of women with the crippling condition. It was only withdrawn from medical journal Fertility and Sterility in 2020 after seven years of protest. A study published just last year about period products found worrying levels of toxic ingredients, including arsenic, lead and cadmium in tampons. In separate research toxic levels of a pesticide linked to cancer have also been found in some tampons at levels 40 times higher than the legal limit for drinking water, while PFAs – known as 'forever chemicals' – have been found in some brands of sanitary towels. Campaigner Briege Lynch 'We are hearing now there are products full of toxic stuff we should not be putting in our bodies,' says Briege. 'People say 'go to Boots' but we don't know what's on offer to us because that's all that's being offered to us. 'I want the Period Shop to be the good stuff, the luxury, made-for-you shop with period pants, moon cups, lots of different sizes and varieties for different shapes and flows. 'I want products that are disposable and reusable. 'I think periods are to be celebrated, and let's give us products that are good for us.' Briege, mum to 15-year-old daughter Lana, also wants the Period Shop to be a women's wellness hub, in which trans people are welcome, offering encouragement to female entrepreneurs, as well as hosting experts on women's health conditions, highlighting period poverty and engaging with schools. 'I read recently about a schoolgirl here who has launched period packs. I'd love to do 'My First Period' packs for dads who want to be involved but don't really know what to do, or a pack for a friend who's been diagnosed with endometriosis or PCOS.' She says any profits will be ploughed back into the business, and campaigning against the banishment of menstruating women in countries including India and Nepal to period huts. In 2023 a teenage girl in Nepal died from a snakebite in an isolated hut, and in 2019 a mother and her two children died from smoke inhalation when she lit a fire in a period hut in bitterly cold conditions. 'My dream is big and when this shop is a success in Belfast and Dublin or Manchester we'll make enough money to fix things for those women. I don't understand people who have money and don't fix things,' says Briege. 'We'll provide education or get them products or give them huts which are so good they can't wait for their periods to come.' The campaigner believes such stigma often stems from religious beliefs and misogyny. 'If it wasn't for women having periods the world wouldn't exist,' she says. 'I don't think we should have the shame or stigma where girls are hiding the rustling of their pads. 'There has been progress but we're still behind the times when we don't have a period shop.' Briege has enlisted the help of local government advice group Go Succeed to write a business plan and estimates £20,000 (€23,000) will get the venture started. After years toiling behind the scenes in theatres she'll miss working with Belfast icons like Diona Doherty and Kerri Quinn, but says it's time to pursue her passion. 'I love women and I'm determined to make them love themselves and celebrate all the natural things we're told are horrible,' says Briege. The Big Variety Fundraiser for the Period Shop Fund is at the Europa Hotel in Belfast on Friday August 29 with tickets available from TicketSource. The link to Briege's GoFundMe is
Sunday World
3 days ago
- Health
- Sunday World
‘I'm not waiting anymore' – The Irishwoman behind Ireland's first period shop
Belfast theatre producer Briege Lynch is on a mission to provide women with the quality menstrual products and services they deserve. Briege Lynch wants to change the world, one period at a time. She's stepping back from a career as a theatre producer to open the UK and Ireland's first Period Shop in Belfast. Campaigning Briege plans to focus on products, education and women's wellness including life-changing conditions like endometriosis and PCOS. She's holding a Big Variety Fundraiser later this month as well as launching a GoFundMe campaign, with plans to open a city centre store by Christmas. Belfast theatre producer Briege Lynch News in 90 Seconds - August 14th 'I'm a staunch feminist with no shame,' says Briege. 'My theme at the moment is getting 4,000 people to donate a fiver, and if I have to rap every door in Belfast I'll do it. 'I've been listening to women talking about womb-related conditions and waiting on government to help them, and I'm not waiting anymore.' The 36-year-old is leaving her producer role in GBL Productions, set up by her playwright father Martin, to follow her dream. She's been fired up by the dire lack of research into potentially devastating womb-related conditions for which women can wait between seven and 14 years for a diagnosis. One Italian research paper in 2013 into endometriosis, when tissue similar to the uterine lining grows outside the womb, evaluated the attractiveness of women with the crippling condition. It was only withdrawn from medical journal Fertility and Sterility in 2020 after seven years of protest. A study published just last year about period products found worrying levels of toxic ingredients, including arsenic, lead and cadmium in tampons. In separate research toxic levels of a pesticide linked to cancer have also been found in some tampons at levels 40 times higher than the legal limit for drinking water, while PFAs – known as 'forever chemicals' – have been found in some brands of sanitary towels. Campaigner Briege Lynch 'We are hearing now there are products full of toxic stuff we should not be putting in our bodies,' says Briege. 'People say 'go to Boots' but we don't know what's on offer to us because that's all that's being offered to us. 'I want the Period Shop to be the good stuff, the luxury, made-for-you shop with period pants, moon cups, lots of different sizes and varieties for different shapes and flows. 'I want products that are disposable and reusable. 'I think periods are to be celebrated, and let's give us products that are good for us.' Briege, mum to 15-year-old daughter Lana, also wants the Period Shop to be a women's wellness hub, in which trans people are welcome, offering encouragement to female entrepreneurs, as well as hosting experts on women's health conditions, highlighting period poverty and engaging with schools. 'I read recently about a schoolgirl here who has launched period packs. I'd love to do 'My First Period' packs for dads who want to be involved but don't really know what to do, or a pack for a friend who's been diagnosed with endometriosis or PCOS.' She says any profits will be ploughed back into the business, and campaigning against the banishment of menstruating women in countries including India and Nepal to period huts. In 2023 a teenage girl in Nepal died from a snakebite in an isolated hut, and in 2019 a mother and her two children died from smoke inhalation when she lit a fire in a period hut in bitterly cold conditions. 'My dream is big and when this shop is a success in Belfast and Dublin or Manchester we'll make enough money to fix things for those women. I don't understand people who have money and don't fix things,' says Briege. 'We'll provide education or get them products or give them huts which are so good they can't wait for their periods to come.' The campaigner believes such stigma often stems from religious beliefs and misogyny. 'If it wasn't for women having periods the world wouldn't exist,' she says. 'I don't think we should have the shame or stigma where girls are hiding the rustling of their pads. 'There has been progress but we're still behind the times when we don't have a period shop.' Briege has enlisted the help of local government advice group Go Succeed to write a business plan and estimates £20,000 (€23,000) will get the venture started. After years toiling behind the scenes in theatres she'll miss working with Belfast icons like Diona Doherty and Kerri Quinn, but says it's time to pursue her passion. 'I love women and I'm determined to make them love themselves and celebrate all the natural things we're told are horrible,' says Briege. The Big Variety Fundraiser for the Period Shop Fund is at the Europa Hotel in Belfast on Friday August 29 with tickets available from TicketSource. The link to Briege's GoFundMe is
Sydney Morning Herald
30-07-2025
- Health
- Sydney Morning Herald
Would-be mothers to get ‘more transparency' on what egg-freezing may do
Fertility technology has leapt ahead since the first IVF birth in Australia in 1980, but one significant barrier for would-be mothers remains: age. One in 16 babies nationally is now born with the help of IVF, or 17,963 babies in 2022, but a key to likely success continues to be how old the woman is when her eggs are retrieved to create embryos, which some fertility specialists say is still not well enough understood. As the IVF industry undergoes heavy scrutiny and new regulation after devastating embryo bungles, claims of exaggerated success rates and expensive add-ons that are not clinically proven, scientists at one large provider have produced what they believe will give women 'more transparency' about egg freezing. The number of Australian women freezing their eggs, at a cost of $5000 to $10,000 a cycle, has increased dramatically in the past 10 years. Nearly 7000 women froze their eggs in 2022, up from 3642 in 2020, and multiple collection cycles are often recommended. There are more than 100,000 eggs frozen via 100 clinics nationally, but relatively few women have yet returned to use them, the primary reason being that women fall pregnant spontaneously, says longtime Monash University fertility researcher Karin Hammarberg. A large American study published in the journal Fertility and Sterility in 2022 found the pregnancy rate from frozen eggs is not as good as many women think, and some patients are overly optimistic. Loading Professor David Gardner, of Virtus Health and the University of Melbourne, has co-developed a calculation tool designed to provide evidence-based estimates of women's chance of having a baby with their thawed eggs, which is intended to help women decide if the process is for them, when to time it and how many cycles to have. The tool carries a disclaimer that women's medical profiles should be considered, but provides an overall estimate based on three data sets capturing final live birth rates from frozen eggs. Two of the studies are international and the third parcel of data is compiled from the known outcomes of 5180 thawed eggs in Australia – but not presented as a peer-reviewed study.
The Age
30-07-2025
- Health
- The Age
Would-be mothers to get ‘more transparency' on what egg-freezing may do
Fertility technology has leapt ahead since the first IVF birth in Australia in 1980, but one significant barrier for would-be mothers remains: age. One in 16 babies nationally is now born with the help of IVF, or 17,963 babies in 2022, but a key to likely success continues to be how old the woman is when her eggs are retrieved to create embryos, which some fertility specialists say is still not well enough understood. As the IVF industry undergoes heavy scrutiny and new regulation after devastating embryo bungles, claims of exaggerated success rates and expensive add-ons that are not clinically proven, scientists at one large provider have produced what they believe will give women 'more transparency' about egg freezing. The number of Australian women freezing their eggs, at a cost of $5000 to $10,000 a cycle, has increased dramatically in the past 10 years. Nearly 7000 women froze their eggs in 2022, up from 3642 in 2020, and multiple collection cycles are often recommended. There are more than 100,000 eggs frozen via 100 clinics nationally, but relatively few women have yet returned to use them, the primary reason being that women fall pregnant spontaneously, says longtime Monash University fertility researcher Karin Hammarberg. A large American study published in the journal Fertility and Sterility in 2022 found the pregnancy rate from frozen eggs is not as good as many women think, and some patients are overly optimistic. Loading Professor David Gardner, of Virtus Health and the University of Melbourne, has co-developed a calculation tool designed to provide evidence-based estimates of women's chance of having a baby with their thawed eggs, which is intended to help women decide if the process is for them, when to time it and how many cycles to have. The tool carries a disclaimer that women's medical profiles should be considered, but provides an overall estimate based on three data sets capturing final live birth rates from frozen eggs. Two of the studies are international and the third parcel of data is compiled from the known outcomes of 5180 thawed eggs in Australia – but not presented as a peer-reviewed study.
Sydney Morning Herald
26-07-2025
- Health
- Sydney Morning Herald
Rebecca was one of the first IVF babies. We now know how many there have been since
The study, published in Fertility and Sterility, used statistical estimates to fill in the gaps left by clinics that had not reported their results. Preliminary data from 2019 to 2024 indicates that another 3 to 4 million IVF babies have been born since the study's 2018 cut-off, said Professor Georgina Chambers, custodian of the Australian and New Zealand Assisted Reproductive Technology Database, and director of UNSW's National Perinatal Epidemiology and Statistics Unit. As IVF has become an increasingly effective and safe mainstream medical treatment, many countries have turned to IVF to support pronatalist policies, Chambers said. 'You've got governments in places like Japan, China and South Korea offering a lot of financial support for IVF treatment to improve fertility rates,' Chambers said. Asia reported just 8 per cent of IVF births in the 1990s, rapidly accelerating in the 2000s to contribute 33 per cent by 2018. Australia's declining fertility rate was the opening gambit in a road map for Australia's national fertility policy, commissioned by the Fertility Society of Australia and New Zealand and co-authored by former federal health minister Greg Hunt. The trouble is, IVF barely makes a dent in declining fertility rates, said Robert Norman, a professor of reproductive and periconceptual medicine at the University of Adelaide. 'IVF is a fantastic medical technology for infertility … it's not the great hope for the future of fertility rates,' he said. The replacement fertility rate – the average number of children to have to maintain a stable population size (excluding migration) – is typically 2.1 births per woman. Countries including South Korea (0.75), Singapore (0.97), Japan (1.15) and China (1) are well below that level. Loading While a record 17,963 IVF babies were born in Australia in 2022, Australia's fertility rate was 1.5 in 2023, and may have fallen to 1.4. IVF accounts for about 5 per cent of Australia's total fertility rate. '[Some in the] IVF industry will point to fertility rates and argue that we need more IVF, that it needs to be more accessible and all women should have the opportunity to freeze their eggs. But it won't make a difference if society is geared up socially and economically against having children,' Norman said. Although the chance of having a baby for women starting IVF after 42 is remote, Norman said it was 'not unusual to have people turning up in their 40s and say: 'I'm ready to have children now.'' Chambers said statistics like 'one child is born via IVF every 35 seconds somewhere in the world' and 'one in 16 children in Australia are born after IVF', may suggest IVF will solve Australia's declining fertility rate, but there's a risk it can have an adverse, reverse effect. 'If people think 'I can turn to IVF when I'm older', they may potentially postpone having children. IVF is less successful the older you get, and we know that the later you have children, the fewer children you will have,' she said. 'Overall, it doesn't have a huge impact, but it does increase the age-specific fertility rate of older women – aged over 33 – which only partially compensates for declining fertility rates in younger women.' Featherstone co-founded Fertility Matters with Australia's first IVF baby, Candice Thum (née Reed), to develop free school programs designed to educate teenagers about fertility – most notably that it declines with age, and the role of both sexes – after being struck by how little their adult friends knew about fertility health. Loading 'These are really smart young men and women who didn't know the obvious statistics and information,' Featherstone said. It has been a year of significant reputational damage for Australia's IVF industry. In June, health ministers launched a rapid review of the IVF sector after two devastating embryo transfer errors at Monash IVF clinics in Brisbane and Melbourne.
