DUTCH DOCTORS WARN ABOUT PROBLEMS WITH FERTILITY TREATMENT CHILDREN

UTRECHT, HOLLAND, May 22, 1998 (LSN) – Dr. Egbert te Velde of University hospital in Utrecht and   his colleagues are calling for regulations to make sure that the latest fertility techniques are safe. They warned that manipulating human embryos and intervening in natural conception could cause chromosonal   damage and developmental problems in children.  In one study, researchers have found that children conceived via in-vitro fertilization scored significantly   lower in development than control groups. Te Velde says that although a small risk of genetic aberration is currently known, it may be an underestimation.  The May 22 Economist reports that Gianpiero Palermo, of Cornell University Medical School in New   York recently stated that “There has never been careful follow-up with any of the assisted reproductive techniques. Even with normal in vitro fertilization there is nothing. And what about babies born by cryopreserved (frozen) embryos? Nobody’s looking at that.”