BIRTH DEFECTS:
Beware of the
HealthScare

The healthscare headline, that only 50% of US pregnancies result in a fully healthy infant, is misleading. But the hyperbole hides serious concerns nonetheless.

by Fintan Dunne, Editor
SickofDoctors.com

8th May 2002

A press release about the conclusions of a research committee of of the National Academy of Science Institute of Medicine in June 2000 is being touted on the internet --for what looks on face value to be alarming conclusions.

Summarizing the full report by the Committee on Developmental Toxicology, the release states: "Approximately half of all pregnancies in the United States result in prenatal or postnatal death or an otherwise less than healthy baby."


Headlines proclaim: "shocking pregnancy statistics."
That's downright misleading.

The figure being quoted quantifies ALL outcomes for fertilized eggs, including the expected 20 to 30% of human pregnancies that fail to impant; including the spontaneous early abortions that are the typical fate of another 10 - 20% of pregnancies; including the 14 - 22% of births that have any significant defect whatsoever; and FINALLY; including the 2 - 3% of births (not pregnancies) that resuly in serious birth defects.

It's a long way from 50% of pregnancies to 3% of live births. But the former figure led to descriptions of a "a stunning, hidden report." In fact the report is "hidden" in plain sight on the National Acedemy website. And the stunning part is not the headline issue at all.

The report maintains that not one US State has adequate tracking of pregnancy outcomes. That's stunning enough for any headline.

It's also the reason why it's so hard to guage if chemicls are affecting the overall outcome for ALL pregnancies. Toxic chemical effects are inevitably lost against the background of the anyway high rate of pregnancies lost to some form of miscarriage, or resulting in some form of defect --even minor.

The Committee also recommend that we must deploy a more sophisticated array of tracking and testing to have any hope of catching evidence of chemical toxicity. Ah...., maybe the report is not so stunning after all.

That kind of research would not only help litigants against pharmaceutical corporates, it's reported results would actually create those litigants. No wonder it's not taking place.

Because this is a "free market." One totally "free" from responsibility, accountability, just penalty or recompense.

Maybe we should just call it "open season."


FULL REPORT HERE   

BRIEF EXTRACT:






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