Pubdate: Sat, 21 Oct 2000 Source: New Scientist (UK) Copyright: New Scientist, RBI Limited 2000 Contact: Reed Business Information Limited, 151 Wardour St, London W1V 4BN, England Fax: +44-20-7331 2777 Feedback: http://www.newscientist.com/letters/reply.jsp Website: http://www.newscientist.com/ Section: New Scientist "In Brief" column Page: 27 BORN ADDICTS THE more painkillers a woman gets during labour, the more likely her child is to abuse drugs later in life. Karin Nyberg of the University of Gothenburg and her colleagues looked at medication given to the mothers of 69 adult drug abusers and 33 of their siblings who did not abuse drugs. They found that 23 per cent of the drug abusers were exposed to multiple doses of opiates or barbiturates in the hours before birth, compared with only 3 per cent of their siblings without drug problems (Epidemiology, vol 11, p 715). If the mothers received three or more doses, their child was nearly five times as likely to abuse drugs. The researchers don't know exactly how a short exposure to drugs could produce such long-term effects, but some rat studies have shown that exposure to a drug in the womb can change an animal's reaction to it later on. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens