Marijuana May Be Associated with Birth Defects Posted: 01-27-08 19:16pm
J Toxicol Environ Health A. 2007
Jan;70(1):7-18.
Risk of selected birth defects with
prenatal illicit drug use, Hawaii,
1986-2002.
Forrester MB, Merz RD.
Hawaii Birth Defects Program, Honolulu,
Hawaii 96817-5157, USA.
The literature on the association between
prenatal illicit drug use and birth
defects is inconsistent. The objective of
this study was to determine the risk of
a variety of birth defects with prenatal
illicit drug use. Data were derived from
an active, population-based adverse
pregnancy outcome registry. Cases were
all
infants and fetuses with any of 54
selected birth defects delivered during
1986-2002. The prenatal methamphetamine,
cocaine, or marijuana use rates were
calculated for each birth defect and
compared to the prenatal use rates among
all
deliveries. Among all deliveries, the
prenatal use rate was 0.52% for
methamphetamine, 0.18% for cocaine, and
0.26% for marijuana. Methamphetamine
rates were significantly higher than
expected for 14 (26%) of the birth
defects.
Cocaine rates were significantly higher
than expected for 13 (24%) of the birth
defects. Marijuana rates were
significantly higher than expected for 21
(39%) of
the birth defects. Increased risk for the
three drugs occurred predominantly
among birth defects associated with the
central nervous system, cardiovascular
system, oral clefts, and limbs. There was
also increased risk of marijuana use
among a variety of birth defects
associated with the gastrointestinal
system.
Prenatal uses of methamphetamine, cocaine,
and marijuana are all associated with
increased risk of a variety of birth
defects. The affected birth defects are
primarily associated with particular organ
systems.
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Tylanas
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Posted: 01-27-08 19:53pm
What's the risk of birth defects when NOT
on any drugs?
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algosdoc
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Posted: 01-27-08 20:16pm
Overall it is 3% for the US from all
causes, but the numbers are much lower for
significant (non-cosmetic) birth defects.
The calculations performed in the study
above determined the EXCESS birth defect
rates due to drugs over the nominal rate
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Tylanas
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Posted: 01-27-08 20:43pm
So 39% of 3% is how many birth
defects are attributable to marijuana?
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algosdoc
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Joined: 23 Mar 2004 Posts: 186
Posted: 01-27-08 20:51pm
Marijuana resulted in 39% more birth
defects than would have resulted
otherwise. Each child with birth defects
suffers in some way- some with severe
heart disease, some with deforming facial
features or feet so deformed they cannot
walk, and a whole host of other defects
including the common genetic trisomy 21.
One should not dismiss the seriousness,
life long impact, or cost of even one
birth defect. Check out the MD or MOD
websites for more information on the
horrible impact of birth defects in
children.
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Tylanas
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Posted: 01-27-08 20:57pm
So out of 100 women, 3 normally have
children with defects. 39% more than 3
is... 1.17 (so, 1) so for women on
marijuana, 4 out of 100 would have
children with defects.
I'm not saying defects aren't terrible,
horrible things. I'm just trying to
understand the study with some real-world
numbers.
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algosdoc
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Joined: 23 Mar 2004 Posts: 186
Posted: 01-27-08 21:11pm
That may be an appropriate analysis. Then
multiply that excess of 1:100 for all the
4 million births in the US each year and
you come up with an additional 40,000
children born with birth defects each year
in the US. Granted, extrapolation of
smaller studies to US population size
studies have their limitations, but at
least the magnitude of the problem is
framed by the massive numbers here.
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Tylanas
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Posted: 01-27-08 21:57pm
Thank you.
Well, as with any drug, even legal ones
such as accutane and alcohol, you just
plain shouldn't do it when you're
pregnant.
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algosdoc
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Posted: 01-27-08 21:59pm
True. What really surprised me about the
study is how few people were smoking
marijuana while pregnant in Hawaii. The
overall incidence of smoking marijuana in
the child bearing age population is over
20%.
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Tylanas
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Posted: 01-27-08 22:03pm
Well, they may know and understand that
just like everything put into the body,
marijuana will go directly to their baby
and affect its development.
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homerx
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Posted: 01-28-08 10:56am
No one should EVER so much as smoke
tobacco when pregnant much less drink
alcohol, do heroine, meth, etc. Thats just
good common since and common knowledge.
Risks go up for birth defects and health
hazards when you add any drug, including
tobacco and alcohol, into your system
while pregnant. As was pointed out by
Erie, the risk is minuscule but DUH! It
doesn't take a rocket scientist to know
that you shouldn't smoke or drink with a
baby in you!
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homerx
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Posted: 01-28-08 22:51pm
algosdoc
wrote:
Marijuana resulted in 39%
more birth defects than would have
resulted otherwise. Each child with birth
defects suffers in some way- some with
severe heart disease, some with deforming
facial features or feet so deformed they
cannot walk, and a whole host of other
defects including the common genetic
trisomy 21. One should not dismiss the
seriousness, life long impact, or cost of
even one birth defect. Check out the MD
or MOD websites for more information on
the horrible impact of birth defects in
children.
You forgot to mention tobacco..17% more
birth defects, alcohol...47% more birth
defects, prescription pain killers...18%
more birth defects, cocaine...87% more
birth defects, crack...90% more birth
defects, coffee...7 % more birth defects,
fatty foods..3% more birth defects and the
biggie...starving herself threw anorexia
or ballemia...87% more birth defects. Lets
face it, you want birth defects to all be
marijuana related and the fact is that
there are thousands of things a woman can
put into her pregnant body that will harm
a fetas and cause life long problems. No
one is suggesting that a pregnant woman
should smoke pot...or cigs...or drink
alcohol...or pop pills...or starve
herself...or not get plenty of sleep..to
say that marijuana resulted in 39% more
birth defects than would have resulted
otherwise is just a small fragment of all
the other things a mother can do to her
unborn child.
The key word here is MAY...it MAY cause
this or it MAY cause that. Lets deal with
facts and not MAY cause...heck, breathing
air MAY cause farting, eating onions MAY
cause back pain, listening to The Beatles
MAY cause blindness in blue eyed children
and long haired dogs...
...so lets keep it real, OK?
