The FDA is weird, dude. Last week, they seized a shipment of birth pools in Portland because they are suddenly... scared of them? Claiming they are medical equipment, the FDA justified their siege by arguing that as medical equipment, birth pools must be registered and regulated. Until then, seize and destroy!
The FDA quickly returned the pools, unscathed, but are putting the issue to a vote this Tuesday. Write your local FDA rep and explain how this is all just ridiculous. The NYC rep is Dilcia Granville, PhD, and her e-mail address is dilcia.granville@fda.hhs.gov. Here's what I wrote to her, feel free to borrow or copy:
Dear Dr. Granville,
I am writing to express my disappointment in the FDA regarding your recent actions confiscating and attempting to ban birth pools. Birth pools are no more medical equipment than are ice packs, warm compresses, or simple bandages, non-medical and non-regulated items used to increase the comfort of patients in pain. Birth pools are an extremely effective non-medical means of decreasing pain during labor, often as effective as epidurals without the extravagant cost of equipment and anesthesia staff and without the serious side effects, including bleeding, spinal headache, maternal fever, maternal hypotension, fetal heart rate decelerations, and difficulties breastfeeding. Please make the smart public health move and support the use of birth pools.
Thank you,
Leda Ward, CD(DONA), Certified Lactation Counselor
The FDA quickly returned the pools, unscathed, but are putting the issue to a vote this Tuesday. Write your local FDA rep and explain how this is all just ridiculous. The NYC rep is Dilcia Granville, PhD, and her e-mail address is dilcia.granville@fda.hhs.gov. Here's what I wrote to her, feel free to borrow or copy:
Dear Dr. Granville,
I am writing to express my disappointment in the FDA regarding your recent actions confiscating and attempting to ban birth pools. Birth pools are no more medical equipment than are ice packs, warm compresses, or simple bandages, non-medical and non-regulated items used to increase the comfort of patients in pain. Birth pools are an extremely effective non-medical means of decreasing pain during labor, often as effective as epidurals without the extravagant cost of equipment and anesthesia staff and without the serious side effects, including bleeding, spinal headache, maternal fever, maternal hypotension, fetal heart rate decelerations, and difficulties breastfeeding. Please make the smart public health move and support the use of birth pools.
Thank you,
Leda Ward, CD(DONA), Certified Lactation Counselor
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