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FDA Warns Anesthetics Use in Children and Pregnant Woman May Affect Brain Development

December 16, 2016

The FDA is warning that repeated or extended use of general anesthetics and sedation drugs by children younger than 3-years-old or pregnant women may affect a child’s brain development.

The agency is requiring that general anesthetic and sedation drugs contain labels warning of the potential risk. These label changes will affect 11 anesthetic and sedation drugs, the FDA said.

Recent human studies indicate that short-term exposure to general anesthetics and sedation drugs by infants is unlikely to have a negative effect, but FDA said, the effects on brain development still need to be fully characterized.

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