volume 103 • issue 8 • thesheaf.com
Sheaf the
The University of Saskatchewan student newspaper since 1912
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Page
Peter MacKinnon’s 12 years as President
Embryo screening sparks controversy over ‘designer babies’ As fertility treatment becomes available, Canadians should be wary JORDAN CAMPBELL Provincial governments in Canada are beginning to recognize in-vitro fertilization treatments as a necessary health cost. Essentially, IVF is the test-tube fertilization of an ovum with a sperm. The resulting embryo is then implanted into the mother’s or surrogate’s uterus. The first successful birth of a “testtube baby” was in 1978. The physiologist who developed the treatment, Robert G. Edwards, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2010. Last August, Quebec became the first province to put nearly the full cost of IVF on the public health care bill. The government funds up to three treatments, and has a refundable tax credit for up to 50 per cent of your total IVF cost. Manitoba followed Quebec’s lead, offering a tax credit for up to 40 per cent of treatment expenses. Since 1994, Ontario has covered IVF treatments, but only for women with the extremely rare condition of having two fully blocked Fallopian tubes. Dr. Santiago Munne, who developed the first preimplantation genetic test for Down’s Syndrome and a host of other chromosomal abnormalities, is well aware of the potential for Quebec — and now Manitoba — to take off into the fertility treatment industry. Munne is the founder and president of Reprogenetics,
Brianna Whitmore
CIS in no rush to mirror NCAA transgender rules KEVIN MENZ Sports Editor
a company that offers preimplantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD, to couples undergoing IVF treatments. He has been considering opening Reprogenetics labs in Montreal and Toronto as funding to treat infertility becomes more available to Canadians, and aided conception becomes more popular.
Brianna Whitmore
Superbabies cont. on
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 30 7 PM GRIFFITHS STADIUM POTASHCORP PARK U OF S HUSKIES VS UBC THUNDERBIRDS Show your pride by wearing green and white.
A S S O C I A T I O N
www.usask.ca/homecoming
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The National Collegiate Athletic Association recently adopted a new policy for transgender athletes, but Canadian Interuniversity Sport and many other Canadian athletic associations are in no rush to do the same. The NCAA’s policy states that any athlete who has testosterone in their system as the result of medical treatment cannot compete on a women’s team. If a male is transitioning or has transitioned to a female, the athlete can compete on a women’s team if they provide documentation showing that they
have undergone testosterone suppression treatment for one full year. “Research suggests that androgen deprivation and cross sex hormone treatment in maleto-female transsexuals reduces muscle mass; accordingly, one year of hormone therapy is an appropriate transitional time before a male-to-female studentathlete competes on a women’s team,” Eric Vilain, a professor of human genetics at University of California Los Angeles, was quoted in the NCAA’s policy. NCAA
cont. on
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