//CORRECTED REPEAT//POPULATION-JAPAN: More Couples Try Artificial Conception

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Mar 1 1999 (IPS) - Joy is almost always the reaction of parents upon seeing their newborn child, but for Nobuko and Seiji Okuda (not their real names), the sight of their infant son soon after his birth last November made them nothing short of ecstatic.

Seiji and his parents were in tears, reports new mother Noboku. She adds, “Even though I was in a lot of pain, because it was a caesarean birth, I, too, was happy that the long period of waiting was all over and we now had a child that was ours.”

The Okudas, now in their late 30s, had for years been trying vainly to have a child. But Seiji’s sperm production was “sluggish”, said the doctors, and his sperm count was low.

It was only a matter of time before the couple became among Japan’s rising number of infertile couples resorting to an array of conception techniques, in this case artificial insemination.

According to the Health and Welfare Ministry, these artificial methods resulted in 7,200 babies in 1996, a 20-fold jump from the 1989 figure.

Doctors say that given scientific advances in the field, it will not be long before artificial techniques lead to more than 10,000 births annually.

“Infertility is a sensitive issue but there is no doubt that it is a problem more Japanese are dealing with these days. The government needs to help them,” says an official who declined to be named.

Indeed, by 2001, Japan will have the first national hospital to offer fertility treatments, including test-tube fertilisation and artificial insemination.

Observers say such official interest and action reflect the government’s growing worry over falling birthrates.

The number of babies born to Japanese parents from January to October 1998 was up by about 14,000 compared to the same period a year before, but officials say the increase is less than half that of the baby boom.

Doctors say the country’s infertility problems are potentially enormous as Japanese society ages and women continue to postpone marriage and childbirth until they are in their 30s.

“Older women have a harder time conceiving,” says gynaecologist Tomoko Saetome. “At the same time there is a lot of social pressure to have their own children so statistics of couples (spending) money for medical help are up.”

But Japanese women may not be the only ones with problems. A report based on a survey by obstetrics professor Yasunori Yoshimura published last November indicates that the average amount of sperm produced by adult Japanese males has decreased by over 10 percent in the past 20 years.

Yoshimura theorises that rapid industrialisation, which has released large amounts of highly toxic chemicals such as dioxins, could be affecting human sperm production.

Other researchers point to the highly stressed lifestyles of Japan’s male workers as another likely culprit of low sperm counts.

This is now being considered seriously even by the government, which is why the national hospital that is slated to open in two years will be looking into it, as well as studying any connection between environmental pollution and Japanese men’s low sperm count.

By looking into the root causes of infertility, some researchers say they hope to help avoid having couples who later have to resort to costly methods.

The Okudas, for instance, had to fork over between 600,000 to one million yen (5,400 to 8,000 dollars) for each of their attempts at artificial insemination, including hospitalisation and other expenses.

Much of the money was loaned to them by Seiji’s parents, desperate to have grandchildren from their only son.

The Okudas tried five times before they got lucky. Recalls Nobuko: “My husband was so keen to have a child. I wanted one, too, but as each attempt failed, I was becoming tired and mentally sick with the whole affair. But I continued for his sake and I am happy we succeeded.”

Some critics of the new reproduction techniques say Nobuko’s words are telling. They say the huge financial incentives may be leading doctors to set aside concerns on the physical and mental state of their female — as well as male — patients who say they want children no matter what.

Women’s groups are now demanding better guidelines in the practice, like counseling and informed consent, to be made official as soon as possible.

Says Keiko Suwa of the Women’s Reproductive Health Rights group: “There is so much pressure on women to have their own children so they must be protected from reproduction technologies that could effect their health and mental stability.”

Activists say the age of the prospective parents, for example, should be an important factor in deciding which method to use and whether or not any birth should take place at all.

But the government has yet to develop guidelines on fertility treatment and relies on the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology for ethical guidelines. But observers say the Society has a tendency to be haphazard in disciplining its ranks.

In one puzzling case, the Society in August expelled a gynaecologist after he successfully enabled two women to become pregnant through in vitro fertilisation, a method in which eggs donated by another woman are fertilised by the patient’s husband.

Why the organisation chose to dismiss him is unclear because the method is not illegal.

News reports in fact say more than 100 babies have been born to Japanese couples using this method through a service based in the United States.

Yuko Sumi, owner of an infertility centre, also admits offering in vitro fertilisation to her clients.

She adds that 83 couples have availed of this service at her centre since it opened in 1991. According to Sumi, a donated egg costs five million yen (4,100 dollars). Couples pay double if a surrogate mother is used.

Sumi says six of the couples who tried in vitro fertilisation were unmarried.