Mothers of children diagnosed with foetal valproate syndrome (FVS) are demanding a public inquiry into why they were not warned of the risks of taking an anti-epilepsy drug while pregnant. Despite studies since the late 1980s showing significantly increased risks of foetal malformations where pregnant women took sodium valproate, women of child-bearing age were not warned until recent years. Later that year she founded, with the support of Epilepsy Ireland, the Organisation for Anticonvulsant Syndrome (OACS) Ireland. Ms Pettigrew has been prescribed sodium valproate, known in Ireland as Epilim, for epilepsy since she was 10. “I didn’t know anything about sodium valproate.

Source: The Irish Times March 22, 2019 20:26 UTC