Teratology is at once among the oldest and youngest of human preoccupations. Coincident with man's first observations of the stars were his recordings of human and animal deformities. But, such aberrancies must have occurred even earlier, for although it is one of those things-like evolution-that cannot be proven, it is nevertheless indisputable that dysmorphogenesis must have occurred from the time complex forms of life first arose on our planet; and that from the beginnings of human awareness our species was conscious of such happenings. From the earliest recordings of this fascination with the form and meaning of abnormality a tortuous but continuous line extends to modern struggles to understand and control these manifestations. And now, after long occupying an honorable but peripheral place in the halls of philosophical and scientific pursuits, teratology has quite suddenly come to take a prominent position at the hub of a complex crossroads of human concerns. This shift in its fortune has taken several forms. Fetal maldevelopment has become the concern of environmentalists, activists of various persuasions, indus­ trial organizations, government agencies, ethicists, parents-i. e. , individuals and groups whose actions are impelled by apprehension. Such motives are of course not without basis; the trauma of thalidomide left a scar yet raw. For still others­ clinicians, academics, experimentalists-the upsurge in the interest in fetal mal­ development is at a different level, and their pursuits are broad, taking external agents as but one of the causes of defective development.

Issues and Reviews in Teratology: Volume 1

Kalter, Harold (editor)

Perseus Publishing

A growing sophistication of the American populace about the nature and realities of the impact of the environment on prenatal development was not much in evi­ dence in 1983. Continuing accusations against Agent Orange and Bendectin high­ light what must be a deep credulousness and need to blame others for one's bio­ logical misfortunes. We despair that ignorance and nonaccountability can be dissipated by objective means. But one can only learn and teach and hope. The need to know what causes congenital malformations becomes more imperative as they become the last major holdout, the most unyielding of all the reasons babies still die and are seriously ill. In the aggregate, congenital malfor­ mations are now the cause of about one-third of the deaths of infants less than one month old and one-fifth of the deaths of those under one year old, up 50% in the last two decades. In the instance of one suspected cause of congenital malformations, maternal insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, while the perinatal mortality rate of children of such women has gone down greatly since World War II, the fraction of deaths due to congenital malformations has grown correspondingly and is now approach­ ing 50%. Present-day knowledge of the causes of congenital malformations is most imperfect. A recent authoritative review found that there is understanding to one extent or another of the causation of less than half of all congenital malformations.

Issues and Reviews in Teratology: Volume 2

Science & Math

Evolution

Plenum Press

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Books by Kalter, Harold (editor)

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Kalter, Harold (editor). BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Issues and Reviews in Teratology: Volume 1

Issues and Reviews in Teratology: Volume 2