The UK’s fertility watchdog is to tell IVF clinics that they should warn parents about the risk of birth defects, says the Sunday Times. New guidelines drafted by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) will direct clinics to inform patients about the link between birth defects and assisted reproductive technologies like IVF.

According to the Sunday Times, the HFEA believes that: “The birth defects issue is certainly something that clinics should talk to their patients about. At the moment there is not anything in the code of practice [on the subject]. There is an intention to tell patients about possible health risks... so they can make informed choices about their treatment”

But will the warnings deter women from the expense, exhaustion and pain of IVF? Not likely, said Christian Odone, a London journalist. Writing in the Daily Telegraph a few days before this news, she says: 

Baby madness takes hold of women, and transforms them from ultra-cautious beings into reckless agents who will stop at nothing to get what they want. The same gender who, statistically, is less likely to gamble, invest in the stock market, or even jeopardise their relationship with their boss by demanding a promotion, will throw caution to the wind to hear the pitter patter of tiny feet.

~ BioNews, Jan 17;; London Telegraph, Jan 3