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BOTH CLONING AND IVF CARRY HIGHER RISK FOR EMBRYOS

LONDON, January 16, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Scientists now say that not only clones, but IVF babies as well, are more likely to suffer from a rare gene disorder, Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome, than babies conceived naturally.

Beckwith-Wiedemann is a rare condition that causes overgrowth of tissues, kidney abnormalities and tumours, and results from errors during the initial "imprinting" process -- normally when DNA from the mother and father combine at conception. Scientists believe that fertility techniques such as IVF and ICSI -- in which a single sperm is injected into an egg -- may actually disrupting the imprinting process.

Researchers from the Universities of Birmingham and Cambridge examined 149 babies diagnosed with Beckwith-Wiedemann. They found that six out of the 149 had been conceived via IVF or ICSI, or 4%. But the proportion of babies born using IVF in Britain is only 1%, meaning that IVF babies are more likely to fall prey to the disorder than those conceived naturally.

For BBC coverage see:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2662079.stm

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