OTIS Applauds Legislators For Birth Defect Prevention Act
Washington D.C. – The first step to create a public awareness program in an effort to prevent birth defects was introduced to Congress late last week much to the applause of the Organization of Teratology Information Specialists, a non-profit dedicated to providing accurate evidence-based, clinical information to patients and health care professionals about exposures during pregnancy and lactation through its toll-free (866) 626-6847 hotline.
Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-3) and Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (TX-26) introduced the Birth Defects Prevention, Risk Reduction, and Awareness Act of 2010 which, if passed, would establish a grant program to boost a national network of pregnancy health information services, including OTIS and its affiliates. “The legislation is critical for the U.S. because Teratogen Information Services, which have served women and children in the U.S. for over 20 years have had sporadic and inconsistent sources of local and state funding. Because of this, many services have not been able to continue to function and access to important health information has not been available,” said Dr. Christina Chambers, the program director of the CTIS Pregnancy Health Information Line, the California affiliate of OTIS, and associate professor of Pediatrics at the University of California San Diego. “Enactment of this bill will provide a stream of funding to TIS's across the nation who will be able to continue to provide high quality safety information to pregnant women and their health care providers and thereby improve the health of children in our country,” she explained.
Nearly 100,000 women seek information about birth defect prevention from organizations like OTIS every year. “Every American should support this legislation because birth defects that are caused by risky prenatal exposures can be prevented by avoiding those exposures,” said Dr. Chambers. “Birth defects are the leading cause of infant mortality, and if we can prevent even a small fraction of these, we have improved the health of our children and the nation,” she added.
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