Unsafe Drugs: FDA Cautions Against Ultrasound Baby Photos

The Food and Drug Administration is warning that taking ultrasound photos of unborn babies poses an unnecessary risk to the baby. The FDA is concerned about companies who are marketing ultrasounds as a way to create prenatal portraits. Businesses with names like Fetal Fotos, Peek-a-Boo, Womb with a View, and Baby Insight are becoming increasingly more common around the United States, even showing up in shopping malls. They sell "keepsake videos" that use ultrasound technology in order to show the surface anatomy of babies developing.

FDA Cautions Against Ultrasound "Keepsake" Images

However, while ultrasounic fetal scanning generally is considered a safe procedure if performed properly, laboratory studies have shown evidence that ultrasounds can affect tissue, such as jarring vibrations and a rise in temperature. Ultrasounds conducted by people working at malls can be dangerous because staff may not be adequately trained and the medical community agrees that ultrasounds only should be conducted when medically necessary. Mel Stratmeyer, from the FDA's Office of Science and Technology, says that most animal studies have not found any fetal harm with low-dose ultrasound exposure, "but the issue of keepsake videos has to be that if there's even a possibility of potential risk, why take the chance?"