Essays on Thalidomide

In global societies, discussions concerning the use of animals in medical tests for research are uncomfortable and controversial. Modern technology often broadcasts horrific photos of procedures being conducted on helpless creatures accompanied by claims of untrustworthy results and skewed statistics. In the long run, animals will continue to be used for testing in laboratories until the value of the practice is diminished. “The benefits of animal research have been enormous and it would have severe consequences for public health and medical research if it were abandoned “ (Festing and Wilkinson, n.p.). This paper will present information regarding whether animal testing ...

Medications pass from the mother to the fetus primarily through the placenta in the same way as the nutrients the fetus needs for growth and development. Substances which a woman takes when she is pregnant can affect the fetus in several ways: act directly on the fetus, cause damage and abnormal development or lead to the death, change the function of the placenta, usually due to narrowing the blood vessels, violate the exchange of oxygen and nutrients, or just cause harm to the fetus due to the decrease of blood supply. Teratogens are all those substances that have a ...

For over the years, there is a relative increase in cases of children with birth defects. Recent statistics with regards to the American babies suffering from birth defects reveals that for every 4 and a half minutes, there is a new case of baby born with a birth defect, which can also be summarized as 120,000 incidents of child birth defects every year, and it is expected that the number of child victims will rise for the succeeding years (Center for Disease Control and Prevention). Birth defects on newborn babies may affect almost any part of their body ...