MYNIPPON

A latest study has found such serious problems with IVF that many couples must completely reconsider if they want to have the procedure the way it is currently administered.  We have already known that older fathers are responsible for birth defects in their children (and so are older mothers who either do not get pregnant or if they do, either it results in a miscarriage or if live birth occurs, problems like Down’s Syndrome are common, as in the high profile case of Sarah Palin’s son Trig).

Now we are learning that men who have low sperm count and/or motility and if the fertility expert uses a technique called intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) in which the doctor will essentially take an egg, puncture it with a needle, and then inject a single sperm into it, thus ensuring fertilization.  The problem is that this sperm maybe too weak otherwise that in the normal course it would have never been able to make the journey and penetrate the wall of the ovum.

The study found that one out of ten kids born using this technique may suffer from defects in the spinal cord, urinary tract, and other problems like cleft palate or abnormalities in their limbs. So here is what you need to know if the sperm count is low and the motility is below average.  Ask for donated sperm instead.  In case, you consider yourself too special and really want to reproduce using your own genetic material, let the doctor know that you do not want ICSI because the fertility clinic might insist on this because they are obsessed with making women pregnant (that is the number used to rank success rates of clinics and can make or break their very financially lucrative business) and don’t give a damn if there is a miscarriage or the baby is born with genetic defects.  In fact, you might want to insist that ICSI not be used during IVF even when the sperm is healthy because when the egg and sperm interact in a petri dish on their own, chances of the best sperm making it all the way are much higher.