OCR Text |
Show had i iveibe,? LvmanJ. Olsen, Direc-al- Her. !ai State Division of id bee.- :1-uiaied that 5-6 percent e paid i g children born in the andj.; -23 States begin life with ribviji.-eiann 0f birth defect. c" ;iiiKjns approximately by . children each year ve' , . a-tom eitner physically itipu-- I maty tawlicapped,. i alt. id sikl iCAl science has not m'lac- ound all the answers to discre -jate birth defects, but it Jyinr,'- c identified the causes of . afi : handicaps stated Dr. tiewi.: ij. Surprisingly, one ution:--- ess cause may be found in : nm medications which, property used, have wmany lives. Scientists have discovered over the past few decades that certain useful and even life-saving life-saving drugs, when given to expectant mothers may have been responsible for a number of handicaps in babies. Even cortisone and vaccinations have been listed. as dangerous under certain conditions. DR. OLSEN noted it is impossible im-possible to predict for certain which drugs may be harmful to an unborn baby. Therefore, the only safe course is to avoid taking any medicine other than what the doctor, who is caring for the pregnant mother, prescribes. Any drugs bought in a drugstore without a doctor's prescription prescrip-tion should definitely be avoided warned Dr. Olsen. The damage caused by Thalidomide, a drug introduced in-troduced in some European countries in the 1950's as a headache and sleeping medication, serves as a tragic example of the dangers of drugs in pregnancy. IN THE late 1950's and early 1960's, doctors began delivering a shockingly high number of babies born without limbs or with malformed mal-formed limbs and other birth defects. By interviewing the mothers of these babies, doctors doc-tors found that all of them had taken Thalidomide early in their pregnancies. So the lesson of the Thalidomide tragedy should be clear added Dr. Olsen. Avoid taking drugs and medicines during pregnancy, except those prescribed by the attending obstetrician. MEDICINES which are safely used at other times can be dangerous to the unborn baby, particularly during the critical developmental period of the first ten weeks of pregnancy. preg-nancy. But because a baby's brain develops throughout the entire nine months of pregnancy, preg-nancy, these medicines may be a threat all the time before birth. Also, large doses of certain vitamins and specific hormones, hor-mones, when given to an expectant ex-pectant mother, may result in birth defects. OF COURSE, narcotics should be avoided unless prescribed, the Director of Health stated. A pregnant woman addicted to narcotics will frequently give birth to a smaller than "normal" child who will likely suffer withdrawal symptoms and might have a difficult time surviving. LSD and amphetamines amphe-tamines have reportedly caused damage to the heart, 1 ' skeleton, and central nervous u system of an unborn baby. One of the most commonly-used commonly-used drugs in the United States is alcohol. Alcohol definitely is a drug, Dr. Olsen stated, and therefore has the potential for significant effects ef-fects on the developing fetus. Recent research has identified iden-tified a constellation birth defects including mental retardation re-tardation which can result from alcohol abuse during pregnancy. WHILE NOT a drug or a medicine, tobacco is also dangerous for mother and child. The link between smoking and cancer is well known; but smoking during pregnancy may result in the birth of a smaller than "normal" "nor-mal" baby. Small babies are more prone to difficulties after birth. Clearly, cigarettes, narcotics and alcohol al-cohol are not worth the risk of harming an unborn baby. There are other substances that may be dangerous to an unborn baby. X-rays and some forms of radiation have been shown to cause damage. It is, therefore advisable to avoid diagnostic X-rays, including those done by dentists, den-tists, even if the woman suspects sus-pects she is pregnant. If an emergency or any other reason to be X-rayed occurs, an expectant -mother has to rely on the sound judgement of the doctor treating her. OTHER harmful substances sub-stances include all toxic fumes, like excessive amounts of automobile exhaust, the smell of glues that give one a light headed feeling, exposure to certain aerosol spray adhesives, and lead containing chips or crumbling plaster. Dr. Olsen stated that a doctor doc-tor usually takes a medical history during an expectant mother's first visit. That is the time when she should tell her doctor what medicines she has been taking. THE DOCTOR will then explain the problems of medicine during pregnancy, and will warn her to stay away from all non-prescribed drugs and medicines, as well as other things which conceivably con-ceivably may be harmful to the baby. |