[Evaluation of teratogenic risk: the contribution of abnormalities registries]

Birth defects registries have been established following the thalidomide epidemic in the early sixties. A first objective of registries is to monitor the frequency of specific malformations in order to detect as early as possible any variation caused by the introduction of a new teratogen in the environment. After 30 years not any new teratogen has been identified by this. It appears that the predictive value of alarms generated by surveillance is extremely low and that resources are insufficient to investigate most of warnings. However, registries have been useful to test specific hypotheses i.e. the effect of iatrogenic exposures. Three examples are given, showing the necessary characteristics of registries: topical treatment with tretinoin, chorionic biopsy and cancer treatment.