Sounds kind of scary, huh?
Not as scary as the thought that pro-lifers, eager to whisk abortion susceptible women into their clinics for unnecessary (and sometimes repeated) ultrasounds administered by non-medical personnel, might be irreparable harm to the fetuses they are so intent on saving.
A human price could be paid for the thousands of medically unjustifiable "free" ultrasound exams performed in CPCs -- "pro-life ministries" sponsored by the religious right and financed by public grants -- that fly below the radar of FDA regulation.
Troubling studies have repeatedly demonstrated [pdf link] that prolonged exposure to ultrasound can produce damaging effects upon the tissues of the developing human fetus.
A 1993 study published in the Lancet cautioned that it was "plausible" that multiple ultrasound scans were responsible for retarded fetal growth. In a 1990 article, Dr. Kenneth J.W. Taylor -- Professor of Diagnostic Radiology and Chief of the Ultrasound Section at Yale University School of Medicine -- said, "I would not let anybody get near my infant's head with a transducer unless I knew what the output was."
Good advice, since a 2001 Mayo Foundation study found that prenatal ultrasounds expose a fetus to sound levels registering at 100 decibels, as loud as "a subway train coming into a station." And University of Calgary researchers concluded that "[a]n association between prenatal ultrasonography exposure and delayed speech was found."
Now new research strongly suggests that overexposure to ultrasound affects fetal brain development, contributing to disorders ranging from "mental retardation and childhood epilepsy to developmental dyslexia, autism spectrum disorders and schizophrenia." The researchers' conclusion is that "ultrasound ... exposure should be kept low and unregulated uses should be avoided."
This is but a small excerpt. The piece is long, chock full of links to outside sources.
Found at Mike's Blog Roundup.
Posted by binky at August 24, 2006 05:56 PM | TrackBack | Posted to El Infierno de kansas | Extremism | Health | Religion | Reproductive Autonomy | Shame | Sperm Worship