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Plainsman1963

Smoking Cannabis Can Cause Problem Pregnancies
Tom Harrison | Daily News Central | 06/02/2006

Smoking cannabis at the time of conception could cause pregnancies to fail, suggests a new study conducted with mice. The weight-loss drug rimonabant also could interfere with successful embryo implantation, according to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center team of embryologists who conducted the research.

Their findings are reported in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Miscarriage or an ectopic pregnancy could result from smoking cannabis in the early stages of pregnancy, the scientists warned, because of the effect of THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, the ingredient in cannabis that produces the high. It disrupts the balance of natural signaling molecules that govern implantation and development of an embryo in the womb, they explained.

Ingesting THC could alter the delicate balance required during embryonic development because it is chemically similar to cannabinoids.

One of these, anandamide, is necessary for safe passage of the fertilized egg through the fallopian tube and into the womb. In their experiments with mice, the researchers demonstrated that altering the amount of anandamide significantly affected the chance of normal implantation and survival of embryos.

The researchers continuously injected nine pregnant mice with THC. They later discovered that the embryos in all of them had been stuck in the oviduct -- the equivalent of an ectopic pregnancy in humans. In the mice that were not exposed to THC, embryos traveled to the womb normally.

There were also more abnormalities in the cells of the THC-treated mice, which suggested that they might have developed problems leading to miscarriage if their pregnancies had been allowed to proceed.

In separate research, Herbert Schuel at the State University of New York in Buffalo, reported that some new medicines, including the weight-loss drug rimonabant, marketed as Acomplia, also have the potential to disrupt amandine levels and embryo development.

 

Buzzby

Smoking (?) Cannabis Can Cause Problem Pregnancies (In Mice)

Women who continuously inject THC need to be careful (maybe)!

These studies in which they inject a few lab mice/rats with huge amounts of drugs and then issue warnings for human beings about the ill effects crack me up. Unfortunately, some people take them seriously and think that marijuana should be kept illegal because of it.

1. Humans and mice are very different.

2. Negative drug effects are often dose-related, i.e. a shot of tequila feels good; a fifth of tequila will kill you.

Studies of human beings who use marijuana have revealed no such problems.

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1tokeovertheline

And "maybe" pregnant mice shouldn't have THC continuously injected in them.

Hansje

Now here is one more example of junk science that needs to be debunked, along with all the other pseudo-scientific studies. That's why I keep harping about The History Channel or PBS or somebody doing a film series that can be aired on television to debunk all this kind of junk science. The sheer controversy alone ought to get ratings. It would be a feather in somebody's cap for them to put together a team to do the research, do the interviews with the experts and the prohibitionist, present the facts, and expose such scientific studies as idiotic and manipulative. Make fools out of the prohibitionists who are interviewed and support such junk science and also those who use it to manipulate congressional opinion, as well as world opinion. Hey, you know, about election time 2006 would be great timing, and then keeping showing it periodically throughout and after the 2008 election, too. Other shows that feed into the campaign to end the war on marijuana should also have a steady drumbeat as interludes of one another--alternate the shows, supported by pro-marijuana media campaigns. BTW, I do donate to reform organisations. If you don't, you ought to.