ABSTRACT
More than half of all pregnancies are unplanned, leading millions of women every year to expose their unborn babies to xenobiotics to which they have been exposed. This reality is well reflected in the prevalent drugs we are asked to counsel about at the Motherisk program in Toronto: analgesics, antihistamines and decongestants are, by far, the most prevalent among medicinal compounds [1]. Alcohol (ethanol) is consumed by over 50% of women in developing countries. Not surprisingly, then, this is the most prevalent non-medicinal xenobiotic consumed by pregnant women, followed by cigarettes and marijuana.
