From Reuters/ABC News:

A new study has found a higher rate of birth defects among babies conceived by assisted reproduction compared to babies conceived naturally.

In the study, almost 3 percent of infants conceived with assisted reproduction were diagnosed with a major birth defect, compared to less than 2 percent of babies conceived naturally, Dr. Darine El-Chaar and colleagues from The Ottawa Hospital in Ontario, Canada and colleagues found.

The study included all deliveries in the province of Ontario in 2005 for which information was available on reproductive assistance. Some possible reasons are the greater age of mothers and fathers who undergo this treatment and the number of interventions required.

From the New York Times:

An increasing number of American babies are being conceived with the help of the fertility industry — at a cost. Experts say these children are disproportionately likely to be twins, and are at a heightened risk for disabilities including mental impairments, learning disabilities, cerebral palsy, and eye and ear impairments. An estimated 30 percent of twins end up in the neonatal intensive care unit, according to one government study.

Fertility industry leaders and government health officials have called on doctors to avoid the risk of twins, but doctors say strong financial incentives encourage them to implant multiple embryos. Further, they say, couples do not fully understand the risks.

A recent study by the March of Dimes said fertility treatments are one of the main reasons the nation has seen a 36 percent increase in prematurity in the last 25 years. The nation’s overall prematurity rate is 12.7 percent, which is regarded as a major national health care problem. The government estimates that the care of premature infants costs $26 billion a year.

(New York Times photo of Carter Hare at just over 24 weeks. He weighed one pound, 12 ounces.)

Can identify any of 15,000 known genetic disorders, researchers say

From the [UK] Times, [UK] Telegraph, BBC News:

A universal test to check embryos for almost any genetic condition could be available in the UK within a year, British researchers say. Clinical trials are expected to start within months.

Researchers say the £2,500 procedure, called karyomapping, can be used to quickly identify embryos with inherited illnesses like cystic fibrosis and spinal muscular atrophy, among an estimated 15,000 known genetic disorders. They believe it has the potential to eventually eradicate some inherited conditions like Huntington’s Disease, and to look for genetic causes of autism.

Critics say the procedure sparks fears that parents will selectively terminate fetuses with non-serious conditions, but scientists say its use would be heavily regulated in Britain and limited to serious diseases. In theory, the process could be used to select for particular characteristics like height and hair color.

“We’re not mad Frankensteins working away in our labs creating designer babies. We can only look for major disorders,” said Prof. Tony Rutherford, chairman of the British Fertility Centre.

(more…)

Writing in the American Spectator, Daniel Allott assesses the potential impact of Sequenom, a California company that has promised to produce an earlier, more reliable prenatal test for Down syndrome. The introduction of Sequenom’s test to the marketplace has been delayed as a result of the alleged “mishandling” of data by its employees.

…Recent developments may delay the impending epidemic of disability abortions caused by enhanced genetic testing …(but) none of this means unborn babies with disabilities will be granted an extended reprieve. Sequenom says it wants to have a validated test by the fourth quarter of 2009 and new tests launched by late 2010 or early 2011. And at least three other companies are developing similar genetic tests and hope to have them on the market by the end of the year.

A mother’s womb is already the most hazardous place on earth for a baby. It won’t be long before it becomes a death chamber for almost all babies with disabilities.

From the [UK] Daily Mail:

Both of Yvonne Finlayson’s IVF twins (at left) have birth defects that have required medical treatment and surgery.

Scientists say test-tube babies are up to 30 percent more likely to come with birth defects, and Finlayson and her husband, Mark, say they feel guilty that their desperation for children may have blinded them to the risks.

The Finlaysons say they love their children and wouldn’t change them, but they wish they had gotten better information in advance They also said they would not consider further fertility treatments.

… at a time when more than 12,000 babies are born every year as a result of fertility treatment, critics have seized upon these statistics as evidence of our over-reliance upon techniques which, even the experts admit, we still know relatively little about.

From the Wall Street Journal, Contra Costa Times:

A group of influential Georgia legislators has introduced a bill that would make illegal some of the procedures used by Nadya Suleman, a 33-year-old California woman who gave birth to eight babies through in vitro fertilization in January. Similar legislation has been introduced in Missouri.

“Nadya Suleman is going to cost the state of California millions of dollars over the years; the taxpayers are going to have to fund the 14 children she has,” Republican state Sen. Ralph T. Hudgens, one of the sponsors of the bill, said in an interview. “I don’t want that to happen in Georgia.”

The Georgia bill would limit the number of embryos that may be implanted to a maximum of three for a woman age 40 or older, and two for a woman younger than that.

Research has shown that multiple birth babies are significantly more likely to develop disabilities including cerebral palsy, neurological complications and learning disorders, as well as other long-term health issues. A multiple birth pregnancy also triples the mother’s risk of death.

(more…)

From the Associated Press:

In an apparent reference to pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, Pope Benedict XVI said Saturday that any type of discrimination based on genetics is an “attack against all of humanity.”

The remarks came during an audience with participants at a Vatican conference on “New Frontiers of Genetics and the Risk of Eugenics.”

While praising scientific progress that permits enhanced treatment for disease, the pope said medical advances have been accompanied by “worrisome displays” of discrimination that favor “efficiency, perfection and physical beauty at the expense of other forms of existence that are deemed unworthy.”

In PGD, embryos can be tested for genetic conditions like Down syndrome, sickle-cell anemia and cystic fibrosis before implantation in the uterus.