Anti-seizure drug linked to birth defects

(NaturalNews) The FDA has issued a warning that certain anti-seizure drugs have been linked to an elevated risk of birth defects and should be avoided by pregnant women.

The agency sent a letter to neurological and obstetric health workers warning that when taken by pregnant women, valproate sodium (marketed as Depacon), valproic acid (marketed as Depakene and Stavzor), divalproex sodium (marketed as Depakote, Depakote CP and Depakote ER) and related products have been shown to increase the risk of cardiovascular malformations, craniofacial defects, neural tube defects and other major birth defects.

For example, while the risk of neural tube defects in the general population is only 1 in 1,500, it is 1 in 20 among children born to women who took Depacon during the first 12 weeks of their pregnancy. The rate of overall birth defects is nearly four times higher in women taking valproate than in women taking different anti-seizure drugs.

Because neural tube defects often develop before a woman even knows she is pregnant, the FDA emphasized that the drugs should not be used in women who are planning a pregnancy, and that birth control should be used by all women of childbearing age who are taking the drugs.

Women are considered "of childbearing age" between the onset of puberty and the end of menopause unless they have had their ovaries or uterus removed.

The drugs are currently approved for the treatment of epileptic seizures and bipolar disorder, but are often prescribed "off label" for less severe conditions such as migraine headaches. The FDA emphasized that women of childbearing age should not be prescribed valproate or related drugs except for life-threatening conditions or in cases where other treatments have been ineffective.

Untreated epilepsy or bipolar disorder can also pose a risk to developing infants. Stopping anti-seizure medications suddenly can also be dangerous. The FDA recommends that any women being treated with valproate or related products consult a doctor immediately if they become pregnant or are planning a pregnancy.

Sources for this story include: www.attorneyatlaw.com.

Serious birth defects linked to the agricultural chemical atrazine

(NaturalNews) Gastroschisis is a birth defect in which the intestines, and sometimes other organs, develop outside the fetal abdomen and poke out through an opening in the abdominal wall. Long considered a rare occurrence, gastroschisis has mysteriously been on the rise over the last three decades. In fact, the incidence of the defect has soared, increasing two to four times in the last 30 years. But why?

Researchers think they've found the answer. The culprit behind the suffering of babies born with this condition appears to be the agricultural chemical atrazine. That's the conclusion of a study just presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) held in Chicago.

Researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle were alerted to a higher than normal number of cases in of the birth defect in babies born in eastern Washington. So they began investigating to see if the increased incidence was due to some kind of environmental exposure in that area.

"Our state has about two times the national average number of cases of gastroschisis," Dr. Sarah Waller, one of the study's authors, said in a statement to the media. "The life expectancy for fetuses with this diagnosis is better than 90 percent; however it requires delivery at a tertiary care center with immediate neonatal intervention which often separates families and can cause serious financial and emotional stress."

The condition can lead to poor function of the bowel after delivery and potential long term feeding problems. Bottom line: babies with this birth defect must undergo the trauma of surgery right after birth. And while most survive, some babies with gastroschisis have significant damage to the bowel due to direct contact between the intestine and amniotic fluid or because the intestine was twisted. These infants may develop a condition known as "short gut" which can lead to stunted growth and a host of feeding and other problems.

For the new study, Dr. Waller and her research team went to work investigating all cases of live born infants with gastroschisis during the period between 1987 and 2006. They matched birth certificates with databases from the U.S. Geological Survey that revealed where agricultural spraying took place and what chemicals were used. It turns out the chemicals atrazine, nitrates, and 2, 4 dichlorophenoxyacetic acid were heavily sprayed in the area.

Of the 805 cases and 3,616 controls in the study, gastroschisis developed far more frequently among babies whose mothers lived less than 25 km from the site of high surface water that was specifically contaminated with one of the chemicals -- atrazine. What's more, the risk of gastroschisis was found to especially rise in babies of women who conceived in the spring, from March through May. Those are the months when use of the chemical is the most prevalent.

The problem with atrazine

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), atrazine is applied to crops (especially corn, sorghum, and sugarcane) before and after planting to control broadleaf and grassy weeds. It is used most heavily in the Midwest on agricultural crops but it is also applied to residential lawns, particularly in Florida and the Southeast.

Problems linked to atrazine have been in the news previously. Earlier research showed it causes sexual abnormalities in frogs and the chemical has also been linked to prostate cancer in workers at an atrazine manufacturing plant.

So why is it still widely used? Unfortunately, the EPA has done little to address the mounting evidence that atrazine is harmful to humans as well as animals. Last fall the agency announced it was going to start a new assessment of the chemical in 2010 that could take months to years to complete. In the meantime, tons of atrazine will continue to be sprayed on crops and lawns -- and mothers and their unborn babies will continue to be exposed to this chemical now linked to a serious and potentially deadly birth defects.

For more information:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/...
http://www.nrdc.org/health/pesticid...
http://www.epa.gov/opp00001/reregis...