Press releases and statements

HFEA welcomes study finding no increased cancer risk in children born through assisted conception

09 July 2013

The HFEA is delighted to see that this study has found there to be no increased risk of cancer to children born as a result of assisted reproduction treatment (ART).

The study, which linked 106, 381 HFEA register records from 1992-2008 to the UK’s National Registry of Childhood Tumours (NRCT) is one of the largest population-based linkage studies ever carried out.

The fact that a study of this size has found no association between ART and childhood cancer should offer comfort to those patients facing the difficult decision about whether to undergo fertility treatment or not.

The HFEA welcomes research applications to use our register data in order to ask these important questions. We would like to see further investigation into the effects of ART on both mother and child.

ENDS

Notes to editors

  • The HFEA is the independent regulator for IVF treatment and embryo research. Our role is to protect patients and the public interest, to drive improvement in the treatment and research sectors and to provide information to the public and policymakers about treatment and research.
  • The HFEA was set up in August 1991 as part of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990.  The HFEA’s principal tasks are to license and monitor clinics that carry out in vitro fertilisation (IVF), artificial insemination (AI) and human embryo research. The HFEA also regulates the storage of gametes (eggs and sperm) and embryos. See www.hfea.gov.uk for further details.
  • The HFEA Register is the world’s largest national data set on regulated fertility treatments, including the handling and storage of embryos, eggs and sperm. It contains all the children born as a result of regulated fertility treatment and provides those who are born as a result of donation with information about their donor.
  • The confidentiality of the information held on the Register is very strictly protected by the HFE Act 1990 (as amended). The changes to the HFE Act in 2008 made it easier to share some of this information, but only under tightly defined conditions.
  • Information on how UK researchers can apply to gain access to patient identifying register data can be found here: http://www.hfea.gov.uk/5452.html 

For further information please contact the HFEA press office on 020 7291 8226 or email press.office@hfea.gov.uk / jay.stone@hfea.gov.uk

Page last updated: 09 July 2013