HAZARDS TO PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT

1. Prescription and non-prescription drugs (ex. Antibiotic)

2. Psychoactive drugs (ex. Nicotine, caffeine and illegal drugs)
3. Environmental hazards (ex. X-rays, environmental pollutants, toxic
waste, too long exposure of hot tubs)
4. Other maternal factors (ex. Genital herpes, aids, nutrition, stress,
age too early or too late beyond 30)
* A mother can infect her child in 3 ways
 during gestation across the placenta
 during delivery through contact with maternal blood or fluids
 Postpartum(after birth) through breast feeding
* Folic acid -is necessary to pregnant mothers. -Reduce the risk of
having a baby with serious birth defect of the brain and spinal cord
(neural tube)
5. Paternal factors - damage sperms -older father may also put their
offspring at risk for certain defect (Santrock, 2002)
* HUMAN LIFE BEGINS AT CONCEPTION -From conception, the zygote,
the embryo, the fetus are undeniably a human life - the developing
being in the womb is human being NOT just a cells or tissues.

“A person is a person no matter how small.”

-Dr. Seuss