kwlalonde@watmath.UUCP (Ken Lalonde) (11/08/83)
There was an article in my local paper today about the fact that Ontario refuses to change the outdated law requiring silver nitrate drops in the eyes of newborn babies. While blindness caused by sometimes undetectable latent gonnorrhea is a genuine concern, silver nitrate can have harmful effects. It can cause inflammation of the baby's eyes for several days, reducing good parental eye contact at a critical bonding stage. (Please, the old notion that newborns are blind is hopelessly out of date.) If there is a possibility of gonnorhea, there is an alternative to this needless pain. Erythromycin drops have been shown to prevent other eye problems as well as preventing blindness. But for couples who are very sure they have never been exposed and have had negative VD tests, I feel that the parents should decide. A Canadian woman is launching a court case, stating the law violates her constitutional rights. As far as I know, the only way to be sure of avoiding drops, and a lot of other unnecessary medical procedures, is homebirth. - Madeleine Clin, c/o kwlalonde@watmath
walsh@ihuxi.UUCP (11/10/83)
I know of a girl who was MADE BLIND by an overdose of silver nitrate back in the fifties. There are dangers in its continued use. B. Walsh