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Globe and Mail article
JON RAPPOPORT www.nomorefakenews.com
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NEW STUDY ON CHILDHOOD LEUKEMIA
DECEMBER 30, 2004. Here is a report about an
interesting new study that says
no to drugs and yes to nutritional supplementation.
As the report indicates, it's a first study only,
and should be followed up
for confirmation, but the prelim results are
powerful.
Folic acid good. Nervous system drugs bad.
Any prospective mother should pay careful attention.
Nervous system drugs linked to leukemia
By ANDRÉ PICARDFrom Wednesday's Globe and Mail
Women who take some forms of antidepressants or
anti-anxiety drugs during
pregnancy greatly increase the risk that their
children will develop
leukemia, according to a new Canadian study.
At the same time, the research suggests that the
risk of the most common
form of childhood cancer can be virtually eliminated
by taking folic acid
supplements during pregnancy.
The findings show that taking central nervous system
depressants -- a
category that consists of a wide range of drugs
including barbiturates like
Seconal, anti-anxiety drugs like Valium, and
sleeping pills like Halcion and
Ambien -- while pregnant leads to a six-fold
increase in a child's risk of
developing acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Those drugs
are all used to help
treat depression.
"If you can avoid these drugs during pregnancy, you
should," said Claire
Infante-Rivard, a professor of epidemiology at
McGill University in Montreal
and one of the study's authors.
But she cautioned that the dangers of women stopping
psychiatric treatment
abruptly are significant and any decision about
medications should be made
in conjunction with a physician. "This data is
concerning, but we have to be
measured in our response," Dr. Infante-Rivard said.
The study, published in the medical journal Cancer
Causes and Control, found
that an alarmingly high number of women -- one in
seven -- take drugs during
pregnancy that can harm the fetus. These so-called
teratogenic drugs include
CNS antidepressants, epileptic drugs,
immunosuppressants, oral
contraceptives, anti-nausea drugs and a number of
illicit drugs.
The data show that antidepressants, by far, pose the
greatest risk. That is
likely because the childhood cancer acute
lymphoblastic leukemia tends to
originate in the central nervous system.
The study did not look specifically at selective
serotonin reuptake
inhibitors (SSRIs), a newer class of
antidepressants. Earlier this year,
Health Canada warned pregnant women that taking
SSRIs during pregnancy could
cause serious side effects in newborns.
The new research, however, showed that pregnant
women who take
anti-inflammatories -- a class of drugs that
includes Advil, Motrin and
dozens of other prescription and non-prescription
drugs -- also see the risk
of their child developing leukemia rise
substantially. These drugs are not
currently considered teratogenic.
Dr. Infante-Rivard warned, however, that the data
have to be interpreted
with caution. "The numbers are very small so we have
to be careful. But we
really should be doing further research," she said.
The study was conducted among the mothers of 780
children born with acute
lymphoblastic leukemia in the province of Quebec
between 1980 and 2000.
Their drug use during pregnancy was compared to that
of a similar number of
women whose children did not develop the disease.
ALL, as it is known, is the most frequently
diagnosed cancer in Canadian
children. There are about 250 cases a year in
Canada, about 20 per cent of
all childhood cancers. To date, little is known
about its causes, except
that it can be caused by in utero exposure to X-rays
and that children born
with Down syndrome are predisposed to developing
that type of cancer. But
the new research suggests that taking drugs like
antidepressants may be a
significant factor.
The new study also offers hope that women can
greatly reduce the odds that
their child will develop leukemia by taking cheap
folic acid supplements. It
is recommended that all women of childbearing age
take folic acid (a
synthetic version of vitamin B-9), a micronutrient
that is essential to
early neurological development of the fetus.
Getting adequate folic acid during pregnancy,
meaning at least 0.4
milligrams daily, can virtually eliminate the risk
that a baby will be born
with a neural tube defect like spina bifida, and
greatly reduces the risk of
the childhood cancer neuroblastoma. Folic acid is
also believed to help
prevent cardiovascular disease.The new study
suggests that ALL should be
added to the list of conditions that folic acid
supplementation can prevent.
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