FDA proposes new drug label system for pregnant women

Women and their doctors may soon have better information about the safety of drugs taken during pregnancy and breastfeeding.The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday proposed replacing a 30-year-old system for classifying drugs in favor of labels that provide far more detailed information about a medication's risks and benefits.

More than 90% of nursing mothers take medication during the first week after delivery. People often mistakenly assume all the drugs in one category are equally safe, says Harvard Medical School professor Michael Greene, who led an advisory committee for the FDA about the change. Women take an average of three to five medications during pregnancy. Because half of the nation's six million pregnancies are unplanned, many women take medications before they realize they are pregnant.

The FDA hopes to begin rolling out new labels "as soon as possible," although approving each new change may take some time.

Bonnie - it is not surprising that our infant death rate is so high. Twenty years ago, the March of Dimes recommended no drugs during pregnancy unless the benefits far outweighed the risks.