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Pregnancy safety advice row

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has been criticised for saying pregnant women may want to "play it safe" and avoid chemicals in food packaging, cosmetics and family medicines that could cause harm to their unborn babies.

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Pregnancy advice provokes criticism

Advice from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) has provoked concern, with critics saying the report is alarmist and can add to a mother's stress.

Tracey Brown, from Sense About Science, said the warning could cause more harm than good.

Pregnancy is a time when people spend a lot of time and money trying to work out which advice to follow, and which products to buy or avoid. The simple question parents want answered during pregnancy is, 'Should we be worried?'.

What we need is help in navigating these debates about chemicals and pregnancy. Disappointingly, the RCOG report has ducked this.

As the report itself shows, there are many unfounded rumours about links between particular substances and pregnancy outcomes.

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