From: [C upi] at [clari.net] (UPI / ED SUSMAN)
Newsgroups: clari.news.alcohol+drugs,clari.tw.health.misc
Subject: Crack babies can grow without mental ills
Keywords: health, medical personnel, international, mental health, children,
        social issues, substance abuse
Organization: Copyright 1996 by United Press International
Date: Fri, 9 Aug 1996 15:00:13 PDT
                                         
PR: LeAdele (Lee a DELL)  
        TORONTO, Aug. 9 (UPI) -- Exposure to cocaine and other drugs in the  
womb has virtually no effect on early childhood development, University 
of Buffalo researchers said Friday. 
        So-called ``crack babies'' are not doomed, LeAdelle Phelps, director  
of school psychology program at the State University of New York at 
Bufffalo, told United Press International. 
        Phelps matched 20 children whose mothers used drugs to 20 unexposed  
children of the same sex, ethnicity and socioeconomic status and found 
no differences in social skills, behavior or reasoning abilities. 
        ``By the time these children are two years old there is no evidence  
that there is any effect on their development,'' Phelps said. ``We 
didn't find any social problems arising by the time the children were 5 
years old.'' Previous studies have suggested social problems arise with 
``crack babies'' as they mature. 
        In fact, in most instances, the children who were exposed to cocaine  
scored higher on a battery of psychological tests than did the students 
who were never exposed to cocaine or other illegal drugs during 
pregnancy. 
        ``That doesn't mean cocaine is good for babies,'' Phelps said. She  
said it may reflect the fact that these babies who are exposed to 
cocaine are later removed from the custody of their mothers and are 
often raised by grandparents who may help the young children in areas of 
verbalization skills. 
        Phelps said that previous studies which found problems in babies  
exposed to drugs in the womb may in fact have caused by factors other 
than cocaine use. Exposure ``is often exacerbated by myriad 
socioeconomic and environmental factors which place children at 
considerable risk for developmental and psycho educational difficulties, 
'' she said. 
        But when Phelps carefully matched the two groups, developmental  
differences disappeared. ``All of the developmental afflictions 
frequently linked with intrauterine drug exposure occurred as frequently 
or more frequently in the nondrug exposed group as in the cocaine 
exposed group.''