Couples desperate for a baby are being denied NHS-funded IVF treatment because they use e-cigarettes or nicotine patches, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
An increasing number of health authorities are adopting the policy – even though there is scant evidence that ‘vaping’ harms human fertility or unborn children. At least 16 NHS authorities in England, called clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), now refuse to fund IVF for e-cigarette users, according to a survey carried out by this paper. Our survey results come days after Public Health England advised GPs to tell patients that vaping is far less harmful than smoking.
Those
that support the CCGs’ move say experiments show no amount of nicotine
is safe in pregnancy. But critics say it is just a cover for
cost-cutting. Many CCGs already refuse to fund IVF for cigarette-smokers
or those who are obese.