Dear Doug and Betsy,
Thanks for your contributions. I recently read (on a flight to the UK)
an article  `Checks on IVF children'' in the British tabloid Daily Mail
of 23 Oct.2002, p. 16-17 by Tim Hutton and Jeremy Hope. Besides
the risks for women associated with the fertility inducing drugs and
the technique of ICSI, it also mentions risks of pregnancies
resulting from frozen embryos.
I quote:
"Lord Winston, Prof. of fertility studies at Imperial College School of
Medicine.... plans to publish research showing that freezing
embryos affects the normal activity of vital genes.
He said "Essentially we have reason to believe that gene
expression may change after different injuries and we've got some
evidence to support that (with frozen embryos).
Basic functions such as growth, respiration and metabolism are
regulated by genes, and if you change the way those genes are
expressed -even temporarily - during times of rapid development,
such as an embryo, you may well expect to see changes in the
way the embryo develops."

The article mentions that the HEFA is setting up long-term checks
to assess any risks from the treatments.

I believe the risks for women and children related to IVF and related
technologies needs to be taken up as a serious public health issue
and discussed more widely.

Jyotsna A. Gupta, sociologist
Senior Researcher Leiden University Medical Center
Lecturer Gender and Diversity, University for Humanistics, Utrecht
The Netherlands