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Show MEDICAL MIRACLE 0v They're Testing Unborn Babies New prenatal exams allow early detection of disease or abnormality By ALAN HAAS just like those in the body of the developing child. After these cells "grow" for two or three weeks, they Medical examinations for babies might seem something the future may hold, but they are happening now. And they are giv- ing many parents the probability that their coming child will be a healthy one. The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore are pioneering the testing of fetuses in the third or fourth month of pregnancy in its Prenatal Birth Defects Prevention Center. The center's work, begun last year, is being sponsored by the National Foundation-Marc- h of Dimes. The examinations work this way: A hollow needle is inserted into the uterus of the mother and through it is withdrawn a sample of the "amniotic" fluid in which the unborn baby floats. The fluid contains cells are subjected to close analysis. This anaylsis can detect some two dozen diseases or abnormalities with close to accuracy. Among the conditions for which the center is on the lookout are many that are extremely serious, including muscular dystrophy, Mongolism, hemophilia, and rubella German measles with its potential for causing malformation or heart, hearing, or vision defects. The detectable disorders or defects primarily involve irregularities of the chromosomes (vital components of cells) or are hereditary, 100-perce- nt sex-linke- d conditions or genetic disturbances of metabolism. Thus if a condition such as hemophilia ("bleeder's" disease), or retarded, sometimes deformed "Mongoloid" children have been known in a family's genealogy and prospective parents are concerned that the child they expect may be so afflicted ,the fetus can be tested. If the test shows the unborn child does, indeed, have a serious defect or disorder, one that would prevent him from living a normal life and impose a severe burden on the parents, then consideration is given to a therapeutic abortion for the mother. (Continued on page 18) The smokeless tobaccos. They aren't lit, puffed or inhaled.They're too good to smoke. Put a pinch between gum and cheek, and enjoy it. Without even chewing. The smokeless tobaccos are too good to smoke. You get all the satisfaction of prime aged tobaccos. They cost less, too. Sure beats smoking! o 5A f Original For information on how to use smokeless tobaccos, please write: United States Tobacco Company, DeptF W,630 Fifth Ave., New York, N.Y. 10020. Raspberry Skoal and Copenhagen eho available in Canada. |