Disturbing Statistics About Assisted Reproduction Technologies

From www.naturalnews.com ....
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(NaturalNews) If you get your information about assisted reproduction
technologies (ART) such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) and
intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) from the mainstream media, you
may think these are simply wonderful ways to help infertile couples have
healthy babies. In fact, women like Nadya "Octomom" Suleman and Kate
Gosselin of reality TV fame have become stars of sort after producing
broods of kids using ART. What is rarely reported is the dark side of
ART -- high tech baby making procedures result in a significantly
increased risk of congenital malformations as well a greater chance for
several diseases down the road.
Dr. Geraldine Viot, a clinical geneticist at the Maternity Port Royal
hospital in Paris, France, recently addressed the annual conference of
the European Society of Human Genetics to discuss some of these risks.
She also pointed out that, at least in France, most doctors working in
ART clinics only tell couples about such risks if they are asked
specific questions.
The multi-billion dollar medical reproductive technology industry has
resulted in the births of millions of kids around the world being
conceived through non-natural procedures. In the largest study of its
kind so far, Dr. Viot and her colleagues conducted a survey of all ART
births -- 15,162 in all -- from 33 clinics in France to document the
prevalence of malformations.

500% increased risk of tumors "We found a major congenital malformation
in 4.24 percent of the children compared with the 2 to 3 percent that we
had expected from previous published studies. This higher rate was due
in part to an excess of heart diseases and malformations of the
uro-genital system. This was much more common in boys," Dr. Viot said in
a press statement. "Among the minor malformations, we found a five times
higher rate of angioma, benign tumors made up of small blood vessels on
or near the surface of the skin."
Moreover, Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome --- which is marked by a
larger-than-normal baby, abnormally large tongue, hypoglycemia,
increased risk for cancer and other problems -- was six times higher
among youngsters conceived with ART. And retinoblastoma, cancer of the
eye, was 4.5 higher for ART children when compared to youngsters
conceived the natural way.
Dr. Viot added that the malformations don't appear to have anything to
do with the age of the parents. Instead, the causes of the abnormalities
are probably multiple and related specifically to the assisted
reproductive technologies. She is calling for researchers to investigate
how embryo culture media, timing of embryo transfer, the effects of
ovarian stimulation, the use of ICSI and the freezing of gametes and
embryos could be causing these disorders.
"We estimate that in France some 200,000 children have been born after
ART and therefore a malformation rate of this magnitude is a public
health issue. It is important that all doctors and also politicians are
informed about this," Dr. Viot emphasized. "At a time when infertility
is increasing and more and more couples need to use ART to conceive, it
is vitally important that we find out as much as we can about what is
causing malformations in these children, not only so that we can try to
counteract the problem but also in order for health services to be able
to plan for their future needs."
As NaturalNews has previously reported, other researchers have found
that children conceived with artificial baby-making techniques have an
increased incidence of metabolic problems, such as high blood pressure,
abnormally elevated fasting glucose levels and excess body fat (
http://www.naturalnews.com/026863_I... ). In addition, a study recently
published in the journal Human Reproduction concluded that women who
became pregnant with a single fetus after treatment with IVF or ICSI had
a four-fold increased risk of their babies being born dead when compared
to women who conceived naturally (
http://www.naturalnews.com/028448_i... ).