Published in The Age today :

NEW research has linked fertility treatment with the increased risk of birth defects including malformed hearts, cleft lips and bowel problems.

However, local experts say the risks are low, and may be a result of the root cause of the infertility rather than the treatment. The study, from the National Centre on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities in the US, was published yesterday in the Human Reproduction journal.

Among women who had only one child, reproductive therapy such as IVF doubled the offspring's risk of cleft lip and septal heart defect — damage to the wall between the heart's two chambers — and quadrupled the risk of abnormalities in the oesophagus or rectum.

However, the overall risk of such defects was still very low.

Full article here