The fertility watchdog, The HFEA, has been criticised for "playing to the cameras" over an investigation into Britain's leading IVF clinic.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority coincidentally carried out a raid on two clinics just hours before a Panorama investigation was broadcast. IVF Undercover, which was broadcast on BBC One on Monday night, showed undercover footage from the Assisted Reproductive and Gynaecology Centre (ARGC), run by Mohamed Taranissi who has produced 2,300 babies in seven years.
The programme claimed that he ran an unlicensed clinic from December 2005 for almost a year. And one of the clinics was secretly filmed offering unproven treatment to women, potentially risking health.
The HFEA has come under criticism for not doing enough to regulate fertility clinics. But Angela McNab, chief executive of the HFEA said she could "absolutely guarantee" that the visits made to the clinic would have been made regardless of the timing of the Panorama programme.
"We have had concerns about the clinics for some time, quite separate to any media investigation and we have been pursuing a normal process with regards those concerns. We are a public body and it is absolutely right and proper we should work in a transparent way.
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