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IVF Three Times More Likely to Cause Genetic Brain Defects

by Hilary White
 
Evidence is growing that in vitro fertilization causes serious birth defects and genetic anomalies. The most recent study has shown that babies born from IVF have three times the rate of genetic brain disorders. The survey examines nearly all of the 1,105 IVF babies born in Ireland since 1989. The study particularly notes a comparatively high incidence of Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome (BWS) and Angelman Syndrome (AS) at almost three times that of the general population.
 
The study said that although the number of incidents of brain disorders are small, "there are strong circumstantial observations that suggest a cause-and-effect relationship between assisted conception and clinical conditions caused by imprinting mutations."
 
As usual, the authors recommend more research but the Irish study is not the first to find a link. In 2002, scientists from Johns Hopkins and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis examined a national registry of patients with BWS and found that IVF-initiated conception was six times more common with them than in the general population.
 
Although the Irish study’s authors and local IVF doctors say that the findings are unlikely to deter clients from seeking IVF, previous research has shown that a number of IVF procedures have proved to be medically as well as morally problematic.
 
Researchers at the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in Perth, Australia, published a study in January 2005 showing that babies born through IVF are up to 40% more likely to suffer from birth defects in general.
 
With the addition of amniocentesis testing and improvements of sonogram technology, IVF is leading to a more permissive attitude toward abortion. When defects are detected in an already implanted embryo, abortion is the "treatment" most often recommended.
 
Read Related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
In Vitro Fertilisation Causes Genetic Abnormalities
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/1998/apr/98040802.html

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