WEC chair Sarah Owen has criticised delays over a ban on high harm cosmetic procedures, including liquid BBLs.

The Women and Equalities Committee has published a letter from health minister Karin Smyth after the government missed the 18 April deadline to respond to the committee’s report on cosmetic procedures.

The report, published on 18 February, recommended that high harm procedures such as liquid Brazilian butt lifts, known as BBLs, should be banned immediately without further consultation.

MPs said the government is “not moving quickly enough” in introducing a licensing system for non-surgical cosmetic procedures and “should accelerate regulatory action”.

They also warned that “this lack of timely action is fostering complacency in self-regulation” within the industry.

In her letter, Smyth said the Department of Health and Social Care had “taken the decision to first of all focus on introducing legal safeguards for the cosmetic procedures posing the highest risks and I can confirm that we plan to consult on draft regulations in June”.

The letter added:

“Our intention is to issue a formal government response to the WEC report, once our consultation setting out our proposed approach and underpinning legislation is published.

“I acknowledge the concerns around the government’s pace of delivery in this area but, as you will appreciate, this is a complex area of policy and striking the balance between increased patient safety, placing new requirements on businesses and introducing proportionate and enforceable regulation is challenging.

“I recognise that regulation has not kept pace with the expansion of the aesthetics industry and, on that basis, I can assure you that we are committed to implementing licensing in the current parliament.”

Owen, chair of the Women and Equalities Committee and Labour MP, said:

“Further consultation and delay on clamping down on high harm procedures such as liquid BBLs is unacceptable. It allows unscrupulous people to continue to put women at risk and lets down those who have lost loved ones following these practices or who have come to serious harm themselves.

“As WEC’s report warned back in February, procedures that are deemed high risk such as liquid BBLs and liquid breast augmentations, which have already been shown to pose a serious threat to patient safety, should be banned immediately.

“While it is positive to hear a licensing system for non-surgical cosmetic procedures will be introduced within this Parliament, this issue requires faster regulatory progress, particularly in high harm areas, and the Government is not moving quickly enough.

“The Committee previously heard a powerful and shocking testimony from a woman who developed sepsis after having a liquid BBL. Her experience and those of many others provides clear evidence of the need to tackle this evolving wild west.”

A liquid BBL is a non-surgical procedure intended to alter the shape of the buttocks.

Sepsis is a potentially life-threatening response to infection that can lead to organ damage if not treated quickly.

Femtech startups may be able to access a new investment scheme from Visa, which aims to close the funding gap experienced by female founders.

Visa Foundaton has launched the CatalyseHer Programme in the UK and is aiming to provide 500 women entrepreneurs with training and fundraising support to grow their businesses and make them more attractive to investors.

The programme includes training, networking and micro-grants and is aimed at early stage, women-owned businesses.

It is seeking to 500 UK-based female founders to address the gender financing gap facing women entrepreneurs in the UK.

Women entrepreneurs still face barriers when it comes to access to the investments and resources that support innovation.

Women-founded businesses in the UK receive only a two per cent share of total venture capital investments according to the British Business Bank.

Najada Kumbuli, head of investments and partnerships, Visa Foundation said: “Women entrepreneurs play a crucial role in all economies by driving innovation and impact at scale.

“This programme aims to address the main challenges faced by women entrepreneurs and create a ripple effect across many communities in the UK.”

Mandy Lamb, MD in the UK and Ireland at Visa, said: “Women entrepreneurs are critical in developing a more sustainable, equitable future. By addressing barriers and providing access to resources such as funding, mentorship and networking, Visa Foundation can help unlock the potential of women-led businesses to drive further innovation in the UK.”

CatalyseHer is supported by the social enterprise IMCO. See more on the programme here.

Visa also runs the ‘She’s Next’ programme, a global initiative to spotlight women in their efforts to fund, run, and grow their businesses.

Launched in January 2019, it has invested £2.5+m in grants and coaching for female business owners across Europe.

Fem Tech World explores the latest research developments impacting on women’s health.

AI system detects heart defects on foetal ultrasound exams

A new study has evaluated whether an artificial intelligence (AI) system can improve the detection of congenital heart defects on foetal ultrasound exams among both general OBGYNs and maternal foetal medicine specialists.

The team found that assistance by the AI system significantly improved detection of studies suspicious for congenital heart defects. AI may play a pivotal role in improving prenatal detection of CHD.

Inhibitor drugs to treat aggressive breast cancer identified

Two inhibitor drugs with the potential to interrupt disease progression have been identified in a new study.

By examining the biology of metaplastic breast cancer and comparing it to non-metaplastic triple negative breast cancer, a team of researchers have discovered metaplastic breast cancers typically exhibit two unique signalling pathways in their cell interaction.

The team were able to disrupt these pathways using a class of inhibitors typically used to treat advanced cancers – phosphoinositide 3 kinase inhibitor (P13K) – in combination with a nitric oxide inhibitor (NOS) typically used to treat septic shock, cardiovascular disease and other conditions.

When introduced to the cell, these drugs disrupted these pathways, making the treatment more effective.

The team say the findings offer a promising therapeutic option for one of the most aggressive and difficult-to-treat subtypes of breast cancer.

Could the contraceptive pill reduce risk of ovarian cancer?

The oral contraceptive pill reduced the risk of ovarian cancer by 26 per cent among women who had ever used the Pill, and by 43 per cent for women who had used the Pill after the age of 45, a new study has found.

Biomarkers associated with ovarian cancer risk were also identified in the study, including several characteristics of red blood cells and certain liver enzymes in the blood, with lower body weight and shorter stature associating with a lower risk of ovarian cancer.

Researchers also found that women who had given birth to two or more children had a 39 per cent reduced risk of developing ovarian cancer compared to those who had not had children.

Maternal biomarker test significantly reduces neonatal morbidities

A biomarker test to identify pregnant people at higher risk of preterm birth significantly improved neonatal outcomes, including reducing infant morbidity as well as reducing admissions to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and the amount of time spent in the NICU.

In a clinical trial, the biomarker test, which analysed a participant’s blood, was administered in the middle of the second trimester of pregnancy to identify individuals at higher risk of delivering an infant preterm.

The test classified 23.5 percent of participants as higher risk within the preterm birth prevention arm. In addition to the traditional standard of care, individuals identified as high risk were given a low-risk and low-cost regimen of daily vaginal progesterone and low-dose aspirin and also assigned weekly standardised phone calls with a nurse.

The researchers say that the findings suggest a transformative strategy for reducing neonatal complications.

No evidence that maternal sickness during pregnancy causes autism

Of the few conditions truly associated with autism, a new study reveals that all of them are actually complications with the foetus — leading the authors to believe that those symptoms were early signs of autism in the child and not the cause of it.

The study included an analysis of the medical histories of more than 1.1 million pregnancies (among 600,000 mothers) from a national registry in Denmark.

The researchers corrected for factors that could confound, or offer an alternative explanation for, the link between the diagnosis a woman received and a child’s autism diagnosis.

These factors include sociodemographic status and the mother’s age during pregnancy, since children of older mothers are more likely to be diagnosed with autism, and their mothers are also more likely to receive certain diagnoses, such as hypertension, than their younger counterparts.

After accounting for these confounding factors, as well as for concurrent diagnoses, 30 were still statistically associated with autism in the child.

To determine if these happened to occur alongside rather than cause autism, the researchers then included the siblings of autistic children in the analysis. If a mother was diagnosed with the same condition during pregnancies of children with and without autism, then it would suggest that factors other than her diagnosis were influencing the link with autism.

The researchers say their interpretation is that these foetal diagnoses likely do not cause autism, but are instead early signs of it.