Members of the UK parliament are demanding a Government inquiry into the safety of the most popular form of 
IVF after it was reported that it was linked with a higher risk of birth defects.
More than 20,000 couples in Britain last year used the intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) procedure.
But an Australian study, which examined 300,000 births, has found that babies conceived using the procedure were twice as likely as babies conceived naturally to have a birth defect.
Now a member of the House of Commons Health Select Committee says there needs to be an investigation into ICSI.
This could force the UK’s fertility regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), to examine its extensive database on ICSI treatments in the UK for evidence to support restricting its use, the Daily Mail reports.
To date, the database – one of the largest in the world, with information dating back 20 years – has not been used to assess if there is a link between ICSI, which accounts for 52 per cent of all IVF treatments, and birth defects.
Conservative MP Dr Dan Poulter, a former obstetrician and gynaecologist and member of the cross-party Health Select Committee, said: ‘I’ll be raising this on Tuesday and recommending we carry out an evidence session on ICSI followed by a report and an inquiry.
‘We’ve got to have a look at what action the regulatory body, the HFEA, is taking to address that and to use its data. There’s no point in having a body that spends millions to maintain a database if it doesn’t do anything when there are concerns.
‘We need to make sure the regulatory body is fit for purpose.’
It is not known whether the increased risk of defects comes from the ICSI procedure itself – which is used to treat men with poor quality sperm by injecting a single sperm directly into an egg – or because it creates children from sperm that might have been weeded out naturally as unsuitable.
When other factors such as the mother’s age, smoking and underlying health issues were taken into account, the ICSI treatment was linked to a 57 per cent increase in defects.
The study, carried out by Professor Michael Davies from the University of Adelaide, found one in ten ICSI babies had an abnormality ranging from cleft palate and blood disorders to heart and lung conditions and cerebral palsy.
Crucially, the study found for the first time that standard IVF, which involves placing eggs and sperm together in a dish and allowing them to fertilise naturally, was safe.
The HFEA said: ‘This new piece of research will be considered by our Scientific and Clinical Advances Advisory Committee when it next meets in June.’
The regulator added it would ‘welcome’ any application to use its data to investigate a link between fertility treatment and birth defects.