The Food and Drug Administration has proposed a mandate that would require prescription medicines to have more detailed warning labels than they currently do. In a May 28  USA Today Article, Deputy Director of the FDA’s Office of New Drugs Sandra Kweder said pregnant women in particular need much better guidance.

“Women take an average of three to five medications during pregnancy. More than 90 percent of nursing mothers take medication during the first week after delivery.

Because half of the nation’s 6 million annual pregnancies are unplanned, many women take medications before they realize they’re pregnant, Kweder says. Current drug labels offer little help in assessing the risks to a baby who already has been exposed.”

The current FDA drug classification system is 30 years old, and does not do a very good job at warning women and doctors about dangers that may occur during breastfeeding and pregnancy.

Let’s hope the FDA proposal gets pushed through easily and quickly. I often think that many of the health problems that children face today are a result of the way our society consumes medicine like candy. Who knows? I could be wrong, but it would still be good for pregnant women to be better informed about the chemicals they are putting into their bodies, and how those chemicals might interact with one another.