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Pregnant women have been told that using perfumes or scented creams may increase the risk of unborn boys developing infertility in later life. Edinburgh University researchers claimed a crucial window between eight and 12 weeks of pregnancy determined future reproductive problems. They believe that exposure to chemicals found in cosmetics during this period may affect later sperm production. But they stressed there was not yet conclusive proof this was the case. The research team was led by Professor Richard Sharpe of the Medical Research Council's Human Reproductive Sciences Unit, based in Edinburgh.

link only per rules http://www.thenewsstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070731/UPDATES01/70731025/1002/NEWS01 Fetus is a person.

Via ACLU website: The American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland applauded today’s decision by the Maryland Court of Appeals unanimously ruling that the reckless endangerment statute does not apply to women who take drugs while pregnant. “The ACLU of Maryland is heartened that the high court agrees that prosecuting drug-dependent pregnant women is not what the state of Maryland considers good policy,” said David Rocah, staff attorney for the ACLU of Maryland. “We believe that using criminal law to regulate a pregnant woman’s conduct on the theory that it might harm a fetus or her newborn child is counterproductive, illegal,...

A new study finds that unborn babies regularly exposed to cigarette smoke in the womb are much more likely to have behavioral problems as young children. The study, detailed in current issue of the journal Child Development, is the first to show a link between smoking during pregnancy and child behavior problems in the first years of life. The researchers found that 2-year-olds whose mothers were exposed to cigarette smoke while pregnant were nearly 12 times more likely to show clinical levels of behavioral problems compared to their unexposed peers. The researchers looked at 93 children between their first and...

A new study has found that cannabis use by pregnant women has a significant negative effect on their babies' health. The study was carried out by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre. In what it describes as the largest study of its kind, the research centre analysed more than 400,000 live births over a five-year period, studying the effects of cannabis, opiods and stimulants, on the developing foetus. Dr Lucy Burns says it showed that cannabis smoking had a major effect. "Cannabis use seemed to have quite a significant impact on the baby in terms of the baby's weight...

ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK -- New research has linked the use of Prozac and other similar antidepressants during pregnancy to yet another complication in newborns: an uncommon but life-threatening lung problem. Infants whose mothers took the antidepressants in the second half of pregnancy had six times the expected risk of developing the lung disorder, the researchers reported in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine. The antidepressants implicated are called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, a class of drugs that includes Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft. "This is the latest in a series of troubling reports of possible adverse effects of...

HARLINGEN - Tortillas made with contaminated corn may have caused a rash of newborns with missing or rudimentary brains in the Rio Grande Valley in the 1990s, new data suggest. According to the February issue of the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, researchers now have human studies linking a toxin in corn mold called fumonisin with babies' neural tube defects. Scientists have been searching more than a decade for answers to the surge of anencephalic babies - babies born without brains or with underdeveloped brains - in the Rio Grande Valley from 1990-92. There were six such cases in six weeks...

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Women have yet another reason to stop smoking while pregnant. In the largest study of its kind, plastic surgeons found smoking during pregnancy significantly elevates the risk of having a child with excess, webbed or missing fingers and toes, according to the January issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). In fact, the study found that smoking just half a pack per day increases the risk of having a child born with a toe or finger defect by 29 percent. “Reconstructive surgery to repair limb,...

The Food and Drug Administration warned pregnant women and their doctors away from the antidepressant Paxil yesterday because of an increased risk of heart defects in newborns. With the warning, the agency for the first time placed a popular antidepressant -- one in the same drug class as Prozac and Zoloft -- into its second-highest category for risk of birth defects. The agency did not say Paxil could never be used by pregnant women, but it did say the FDA "is advising patients that this drug should usually not be taken during pregnancy." The advisory is based on early results...

SCIENTISTS have captured graphic images of the damage done to unborn babies as a result of women drinking during pregnancy. Just one glass of wine a week can make babies “jump” in the womb throughout a nine-month pregnancy. Experts believe this abnormal hyperactive behaviour is the result of alcohol slowing or retarding the formation of the central nervous system. Doctors have warned for decades that women who consume large amounts of alcohol during pregnancy can affect their child’s mental development. The Department of Health (DoH) advises pregnant women to limit their alcohol to one or two glasses of wine a...

CHEYENNE -- One of the many people following the Lander "meth baby" case was Rep. Elaine Harvey of Lovell. The Republican lawmaker is the chief sponsor of the 2004 felony child endangerment law the defendant, Michele Ann Foust, 31, was charged under. Harvey said Wednesday she is having an amendment drafted to make it clear the law applies to an unborn child as well as a child. The lack of a clear definition in the law caused District Judge Norman Young to dismiss charges against Foust. "I thought we were covered. The intent was to protect unborn children but apparently...

Doctors once thought that the placenta would shield a fetus from harmful chemicals and pollutants. But new research shows that may not be the case. A study published this month by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), an advocacy group based in Washington DC, found traces of 287 chemicals in the umbilical cord blood of 10 infants. They included mercury, pesticides and the chemicals used in stain-resistant coating and fire-retardant foam. The findings prompted concerns since children’s smaller brains, developing organs and more porous brains put them more at risk from such toxins than adults. "A child's brain is very vulnerable...

BARTLESVILLE, Okla. — A woman who police say had been drinking heavily before she gave birth was charged with child neglect after the baby was born intoxicated and diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome. Melissa Irene Tanner, 37, had a blood alcohol content of 0.29 percent when she gave birth June 30, and her daughter's was 0.21 percent, according to an affidavit by police. The legal limit for drivers in Oklahoma is 0.08 percent. Hospital staff had to use an oxygen bag to help the baby start breathing and gave her medication to counteract any narcotics, according to the affidavit. Tanner...

NEW YORK, July 14, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - At most times, according to the international news service Reuters, and a Democrat Congresswoman, they are "products of conception" or "fetal tissue" that can be disposed of at a whim. But when an environmental issue is involved, they are transformed into "unborn babies," and "babies who have not yet lived outside the womb." Reuters is a steadfast promoter of abortion and is particularly adept at following the abortion lobby's tactics of linguistic manipulation. But today's story of a report showing environmental toxins in umbilical cord blood starts with the news that "unborn babies...

WASHINGTON — Unborn U.S. babies are soaking in a stew of chemicals, including mercury, gasoline byproducts and pesticides, according to a report to be released Thursday. Although the effects on the babies are not clear, the survey prompted several members of Congress to press for legislation that would strengthen controls on chemicals in the environment. The report by the Environmental Working Group is based on tests of 10 samples of umbilical cord blood taken by the American Red Cross. They found an average of 287 contaminants in the blood, including mercury, fire retardants, pesticides and the Teflon chemical PFOA. "These...

Widely used industrial compounds, called phthalates, are linked by researchers to changes in the reproductive organs of male infants. Scientists studying the effects of hormone-mimicking chemicals on humans have reported that compounds called phthalates, used in plastics and beauty products and widely found in people, seem to alter the reproductive organs of baby boys. In the first study of humans exposed in the womb to phthalates, the researchers, who examined the genitalia of male babies and toddlers, found a strong relationship between the chemicals and subtle changes in the size and anatomy of the children's genitals. Phthalates are ubiquitous compounds...

A manmade ingredient of many plastics, cosmetics and other consumer products may be interfering with prenatal male sexual development, new research suggests. A study of 85 infant boys found a correlation between increased exposure to some forms of the chemical phthalate and smaller penis size and incomplete testicular descent. It is the first time phthalate has been shown to influence the sexual development of human males. "This is clearly something that needs to be examined in a larger sample," said Shanna Swan, a professor at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry who headed the study. A paper...

A new health alert over chemicals used in make-up, shampoo and soaps is issued today. Experts say products containing the chemicals - called phthalates - could cause women to give birth to boys with female characteristics. Their research found shrunken genitals and less masculine behaviour in babies. Phthalates help to give cosmetics colour and bond perfume molecules. They are also used in pliable plastics such as clingfilm, kidney dialysis tubes, blood bags and even children's toys. "This is a very big problem," said study leader Professor Shanna Swan, of the University of Rochester. The research, to be published-next month in...