Alarming Public Health Report on Infertility in France

by | July 6, 2018 | Fertility and pregnancy

In its latest epidemiological bulletin, dated July 3, 2017, the French Public Health Agency, addressed the issue of “Reproductive Health and Endocrine Disruptors“.
This alarming report confirms worrisome data on increasing infertility, already published in other reports. The overall results “reflect a generalized deterioration of male reproductive health in France, consistent with the international literature“.
Environmental factors and exposure to toxic substances, such as some endocrine disruptors for example are highly  implicated.
Genital malformations, sperm quality, and the incidence of testicular cancers were evaluated.
The quality of semen is in free fall: sperm concentration has dropped by 1.9% annually, or nearly 32.2% in the past 15 years. The number of morphologically normal spermatozoids is also decreasing.
Unfortunately, testicular cancer has been increasing by 1.5% per year. In the male reproductive system, the absence of one or both testicles in small boys has increased in France by 2.6% per year. This is caused by insufficient hormonal permeation into androgen which may result from the mother’s exposure to endocrine disruptors during pregnancy or trans-generational problems, due to toxic substance exposure in previous generations.
The phenomena of early onset of puberty or “precocious puberty”, with its possible negative consequences for health and fertility, have also been observed for several years with a strong regional disparity. This may be caused for multiple reasons, such as genetic or ethnic factors, unrelated to environmental factors.
The causes of infertility are multifaceted and complex. It is essential that studies continue and that they be followed by information and prevention campaigns. This is a major public health issue.

[Press Release] Bioethics: Where is Justice in the French State Council’s Position?

by | July 6, 2018 | Medically Assisted Procreation

Alliance VITA takes note of the State Council’s position which is detrimental to the child’s best interests, because it concedes to some citizens’ requests regarding reproductive techniques.
When reading the possible ART bioethical changes that have been appearing in the media, it is shocking that a group responsible for counseling the government consents to demands coming from a small minority of adults, seen as transgressive, instead of assessing an infertility prevention policy, (including environmental and behavioral causes). Besides they don’t even recognize that treating ART in a trivial manner, will have an impact on children’s rights.
Tugdual Derville, Alliance VITA’s General Delegate wonders:
“These new recommendations give the impression that the group has little concern for legal coherence and justice for the most vulnerable. As if political pressure forced them to go back to the previous decisions… How can the principles which were claimed when the law was revised in 2011 to protect children, all disappear so suddenly? The State Council recommended avoiding “the risk of ceding to the least ethical position “, and to maintain “the basic requirement for a child to have a family with a father and a mother” and not to “intentionally create a child without a father, which cannot be considered to be in the best interest for the unborn child.”  Such bioethical policies based on a downhill slope can’t make our society safe. “
On a point that merits reconsideration, Alliance VITA notes that the State Council makes an absurd proposal which does not respond to individuals seeking their origins, after birth by ART from a donor, yet still confronted by the anonymity of gamete donation.  This issue is feebly addressed, by proposing access of non-identifying data, but subject to the donor and the parents consent. This is scientifically absurd and practically derisory. Nowadays, nothing can hinder one from having access to his origins.
Alliance VITA continues to insist that the main principles governing French and International law must be respected, in particular Article 7 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states that every child has “the right to know his parents and be raised by them as far as possible.”
Alliance VITA intends to participate in mobilizing efforts for bills to be passed in accordance with the child’s best interests.

French Health Professionals “Solemn Appeal” to Protect Minors from Porn

by | July 5, 2018 | Uncategorized

On Friday, June 15, with several health professionals, Israel Nisand, President of the French National College of Gynecologists and Obstetricians, launched a “solemn appeal” to the government to fight against mass distribution of pornography to which children and adolescents are exposed.  
An increasing number of health professionals recognize and are confronted with this problem. They demand that the existing French law which prohibits pornography for those under 18 be enforced. Israel Nisand also deplores “Today businesses have the upper hand. But internet providers cannot hide behind the free Web access; they must still protect minors. ”
Smartphones have increasingly given youth widespread access to free pornographic images and movies, hidden from parental supervision.
This exposure may even start in primary school, and may sometimes be forced on students when a friend obliges him to look, or when a window unexpectedly pops up.
Already in 2002, a report from the Ministry of Culture and Communication declared “When a (young) child receives raw and brutal pornographic images, his brain feels confused about the taboos, and this has the same effect as being sexually abused”. According to Professor Israël Nisand, “pornography transmits the misconception that sexual performance is measured. Women areonly considered as objects. Boys have no concept of what consent means.” This wide consumption of pornographic images also corresponds to an increase in child-on-child sexual assault, as detailed in the press release from French National College of Gynecologists and Obstetricians.
The gynecologist, Ghada Hatem, deplores “We see so many teenage girls who do not even understand their own bodies;manipulated by their boyfriends who make them do things they don’t agree with“. Through the sex education classes she gives in Seine-Saint-Denis, she became aware of the widespread access to these films. In her opinion, these films have become a reference model for intimate relations between sexual partners. Ghada Hatem speaks of her experience at the Women’s House, which helps young girls who are victims of abuse in Seine-Saint-Denis.
Several recent studies show the increasing prevalence of porn among young people. On March 20, 2017, an IFOP study commissioned by “OPEN” (Observatory of Parenting and Digital Education) was published. It focused on “the prevalence of  pornography among teenagers and its influence on sexual behavior” and the figures are quite alarming. An Opinionway survey, published in April 2018, reported that 62% of young adults have viewed porn images before age 15, with 11% of them being exposed before age 11. On June 8, 2018, an IPSOS poll, published by the Foundation for Political Innovation, emphasized this fact. It revealed that 21% of the 14- 24 year-olds surveyed watched porn at least once a week.
The French National College of Gynecologists and Obstetricians therefore calls for the existing law to be enforced to protect minors via information and awareness campaigns for children, adolescents and parents, and to provide widespread informative sexual education in schools. Professor Nisand also blames porn websites and proposes to force them torequire consumers to give their credit card details before viewing films, or be penalized with a heavy fine.
The question is whether the political commitment will follow through. The government has made announcements over the past few months. On November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, President Macron unveiled a government strategy which included fighting against children exposition to porn on Internet. He announced that he would like to build on various bodies, and extend the High Audiovisual Council’s authority over social networks, video games and online porn to control “content which could lead to violence against women“. A task force has been established at the French Health Ministry.
If the awareness that pornography seriously abuses children and women is to be beneficial, it must also take into account the fact that it is detrimental for men as well.

Impact of Parents’ Separation on Children Entering Adulthood

by | July 5, 2018 | Uncategorized

Published on June 29, 2018 a DREES study (French Department for Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics) analyzes the impact of parental separation on children entering adulthood.
At the end of 2014, there were 1.4 million young adults aged from 18 to 24 whose parents had separated, meaning 1 in 4 of young adults.
For more than 80% of these young adults, the separation of their parents took place before the age of 18. The “DREES” study observed that residing with only one parent distorts the relationship with the other parent. For example, almost one third of those whose parents are separated no longer have a relationship with one of their parents, most often their father (27% out of 31%).
When there is no longer any contact with one of their parents, 49 % of these young adults report that it is related to the separation, with only 14% citing geographic distance from the parent as a cause.
Young people with separated parents are more likely to leave the parental home than others, especially if the parent with whom they lived after separation had a child from a new union. 45% of young people whose parents are separated continue their education, compared to 53% of those whose parents are in a relationship. The length of education of 18-24 year old’s whose parents had separated before their majority decreased on an average from 6-12 months. They are more often unemployed or inactive. Unless the separated parents have maintained a good relationship, they are likely to receive less education. If they continue their education, young people with separated parents remain closer, and more often cohabitate with their partner.
Paternal relationships are particularly affected by separation. Among these young adults, 25% no longer have any contact with their father. For those who continue to see their father, 40% report experiencing stress if there are step-children involved or newborn children from the union. “Whatever the living situation following separation, girls are more likely to experience a stressful paternal relationship.” Alternating residences and staying with the father are slightly more frequent for boys (21%) than for girls (16%). When these young adults of separated parents do have discussions with their father, they talk less to him about money, leisure, politics, education, culture, daily life, their love life or sexual activities than other young people.

French Law of Bioethics: Parliamentary Informational Task Force Designated

by | July 4, 2018 | Bioethics, News

On June 26, 2018, two MP’s were designated to co-pilot an informational task force for revising the Bioethical law: Jean-Louis Touraine (“La République En Marche” party) and Xavier Breton (Republican party).

This task force comprises 35 members from different political parties. Their work is expected to last 6 months, or until the end of 2018, when the bill will most likely be filed.  Although both deputies are very committed to bioethics, Xavier Breton (president for the task force) and Jean-Louis Touraine (rapporteur) have radically different viewpoints.

Xavier Breton, MP for the Ain region, and member of the parliamentary group “Entente for the Family”, asked for this task force to be established. Last April, a letter co-signed by 56 deputies was addressed to the President of the Assembly requesting that an informational task force be designated because “revising the law of bioethics evokes complex and sensitive subjects”. Although unfavorable for allowing female couples access to ART, Breton stated: “Before starting a controversial debate, take time to listen, to ask questions about the issues in a very precise manner, especially since there are new members in the National Assembly who need to be informed “.

His task force co-pilot, Jean-Louis Touraine, deputy in the Rhone region and a medical doctor, is in favor of legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide as well as for extending access of ART and legalizing surrogacy. “Work will begin now, ensuring that all opinions are respected,” he said.

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Further details:

Since mid-May, at the National Assembly, the Social Affairs Committee and the Law Commission had been performing similar tasks: hearings on various topics ranging from genetic research to ART. (Click here for the content of the previous hearings regarding “ART and society”). Now, the informational task force will study the bioethical issues and the previous hearings. When the bill is added to the Assembly’s schedule, work by the committee will be resumed.