Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 18, 2026

Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Based Developmental Toxicity Assays for Chemical Safety Screening and Systems Biology Data Generation
Published on: June 17, 2015
The effectiveness of Teratology Information Services (TIS)
Rebecca L Hancock1, Gideon Koren, Adrienne Einarson
1Department of Child Health Evaluative Sciences, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada. rebecca.hancock@utoronto.ca
Background:
Women and their health care providers have few reliable sources of information regarding the safety of exposures in pregnancy and lactation. Evidence-based information on these topics is provided by Teratology Information Services (TIS). Access to TIS, however, is limited in many regions, and many services have difficulty maintaining ongoing funding. The objective of this review is to highlight published reports of the effectiveness of TIS in improving maternal and neonatal health.
Methods:
A search of the Pub Med and Econ Lit databases was performed with no date restriction, using the search terms teratology, information, counseling, pregnancy, effectiveness, birth defects.
Results:
Information disseminated from TIS has been shown to prevent congenital malformations, unnecessary pregnancy terminations, and occupational risks. TIS support optimal nutritional supplementation in pregnancy and optimal drug therapy in pregnancy and breast-feeding. In addition, they correct misperceptions of risk and facilitate knowledge transfer and translation. TIS have the potential to provide health care cost savings.
Conclusions:
TIS are vital services in supporting optimal maternal and neonatal health. A formal economic evaluation of TIS is required in order to inform resource allocation decision-making and continued funding of these services.
More Related Videos
05:45Developmental Toxicity Assay Based on Real-Time Monitoring of Fibroblast Growth Factor Signal Disruption in Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells
Published on: October 10, 2025
16:02Demonstration of the Sequence Alignment to Predict Across Species Susceptibility Tool for Rapid Assessment of Protein Conservation
Published on: February 10, 2023
Related Concept Videos
Teratogenicity
Toxicity Testing in Animals
Therapeutic Drug Monitoring: Affecting Factors
Therapeutic Drug Monitoring: Overview and Classification
Therapeutic Index
Toxicokinetics: Overview