Drugs & Fetal Development - Mrs. Giannico

Drug Effects on Fetal Development

Biology - Mrs. Giannico & Mrs. Storms

 

 

The following web sites will be helpful in your research of drug effects on fetal development.  Sites marked with * have useful 'fact sheets' on numerous drugs and substances.

 

Broad Based Medical Information

WebMD (www.webmd.com)

Health A to Z (www.healthatoz.com)

The Gale Health Reference Center Available through the Virtual Reference Collection (www.esboces.org/sls/vrc.cfm), the HRC provides access to scholarly articles on almost all health related issues.

 

 

Specific Information on Drugs

*National Institute on Drug Abuse (www.nida.nih.gov/drugpages.html) 

Part of the National Institute of Health, the NIDA maintains information about commonly abused drugs, including a database of ‘Fact Sheets’ on the health effects of specific drugs (http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofacts/Infofaxindex.html).

 

 

Pregnancy Related Information

American Council for Drug Education (www.acde.org/parent/Pregnant.htm) Provides information about drug use during pregnancy.

 

The Visible Embryo (www.visembryo.com) contains images of each stage of fetal development as well as an information page on the effects of various prescription drugs on fetal development.

 

Safe Fetus (www.safefetus.com), maintained by physicians & pharmacists, contains a database of mediations & their fetal risk as determined by the FDA.

 

 

 

Teratogenic Information

*The Organization of Teratology Information Specialists (OTIS) has compiled fact sheets (otispregnancy.org/otis_fact_sheets.asp) on numerous drugs or substances pregnant women may be exposed to. 

 

National Toxicology Program A division of the National Institute of Health, the National Institute of Environemtnal Health Sciences’ Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction (http://cerhr.niehs.nih.gov/common/index.html) maintains information about common concerns & exposures during pregnancy.

 

March of Dimes (www.marchofdimes.com) is one of the leading organizations to prevent premature births and birth defects.  The ‘During Your Pregnancy’ section contains a list of things to avoid (www.marchofdimes.com/pnhec/159.asp).  You can also use the search box in the upper left corner.

 

University of Kansas Medical Center (http://www.kumc.edu/gec/support/teratogen.html) has a compilation of various substances that affect fetal development with accompanying external links.

 

 

Specific Disease or Drug Information

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

The Doctor Page (www.doctorpage.com) has information about various diseases.  Select ‘Diseases & Conditions’ in the left hand column.  Scroll through the choices for ‘Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS).

 

NOFAS, the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (www.nofas.org/faqs.aspx) has information on all aspects of FAS.