Written question asked by Ashok Kumar (Labour) on Wednesday, 1 November 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 6 November 2006. It was answered by Caroline Flint (Labour) on Wednesday, 8 November 2006 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Autism and Childhood Cancers

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the risks to (a) babies born through IVF and (b) other babies of developing (i) autism and (ii) childhood cancers.

Answer: The Department has made no assessment of the likelihood of a child developing autism or cancer or whether that likelihood is increased if the child is conceived using in vitro fertilisation (IVF).The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, the regulatory body responsible for licensing the provision of IVF in the United Kingdom, considers that IVF is a fundamentally safe technique. Although there have been a number of studies looking at the links between IVF and a range of medical or genetic conditions, there is no current body of evidence to indicate that IVF is unsafe.

Secondary information