COCAINE EFFECT ON BABIES OVERSTATED, STUDY SUGGESTS

CHICAGO - The "crack baby" phenomenon is overblown, according to a
study that suggests poverty and women using cigarettes, alcohol and
other drugs are just as likely as those using cocaine to cause
developmental problems in children.

Blaming such problems on prenatal cocaine use alone has unfairly
stigmatized children, creating an unfounded fear in teachers that
"crack kids" will be backward and disruptive, according to the study,
an analysis of 36 previous studies.

"I'm not trying to be Pollyanna-ish and say there are not problems"
with cocaine use by pregnant women, said Dr. Deborah Frank, an
associate professor of pediatrics at Boston University who led the
analysis. "I'm saying there are many more serious risks to children's
development."

The analysis appears in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical
Association.

The perception that crack babies are a unique phenomenon stems from an
overreaction to research that did not adequately weigh such factors as
family environment and mothers using substances besides cocaine while
pregnant, the researchers said.

Women who use cocaine while pregnant often smoke, drink, take other
illegal drugs and live in poverty or otherwise unhealthy
environments.

These factors can explain all or some of the problems once solely
blamed on cocaine's presumed effects on the developing fetus, such as
low birth weight, small head size, low scores on mental-development
tests and behavioral problems such as attention deficits, the
researchers said.

Alan Leshner, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, said
that although researchers believe the effects of prenatal cocaine
exposure "are not nearly as dramatic as people initially thought," the
study should not be misinterpreted to suggest that it isn't harmful.

In an editorial that accompanies the study, Dr. Wendy Chavkin of
Columbia University said the crack baby "has become a convenient
symbol for an aggressive war on drug users because of the implication
that anyone who is selfish enough to irreparably damage a child for
the sake of a quick high deserves retribution."

"This image, promoted by the mass media, makes it easier to advocate a
simplistic, punitive response than to address the complex causes of
drug use," she said.

The Journal study follows last week's Supreme Court ruling barring
public hospitals from testing pregnant women for drugs and giving the
results to police without consent.