342 Oxazepam
have been inconclusive. Gene mutations would be a possible sign that cancer
might eventually emerge; some laboratory tests show that the drug does not
cause gene mutations, but genetic mutations were apparent after a six-month
administration of the drug to mice. Oxazepam is described as causing liver
cancer in mice. Researchers testing the drug on rats concluded that an unclear
potential for causing cancer exists, but their uncertain conclusion was partly
based on some dosages so high that apparently they were fatal to various
individual animals.
Pregnancy.Experiments have exposed mice to oxazepam during fetal de-
velopment, and assorted differences in their behavior (compared to mice with
no exposure) have been documented, including decreased sociability and de-
creased interaction with surroundings. What those differences might mean in
a human context is unclear. Experimental evidence indicates that prenatal ex-
posure to oxazepam may harm a mouse’s learning ability and temporarily
slow growth. In humans the drug passes from a pregnant woman into the
fetus. A survey of 4,014 instances of birth defects in the Netherlands from
1981 to 1994 found an association between oxazepam and cleft lip. The same
association was found in Finland a few years earlier. Mice experiments have
also produced head and mouth malformations, but the doses involved were
far higher than humans would be expected to take.
Oxazepam is considered to have less impact than other benzodiazepines on
a nursing mother’s milk supply. Two nursing mothers who had measurable
levels of oxazepam in their blood had no evidence of the substance in their
milk. A case report tells of a nursing mother whose milk contained about 4.7%
of her oxazepam dosage, with no apparent effect on the infant. In other cases,
not even 0.001% of the oxazepam dose taken by a mother passed into her
milk.
Additional scientific information may be found in:Ayd, F.J., Jr. “Oxazepam: Update 1989.”International Clinical Psychopharmacology 5
(1990): 1–15.
Bliding, A. “The Abuse Potential of Benzodiazepines with Special Reference to Oxa-
zepam.”Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. Supplementum, no. 274 (1978): 111–16.
Bucher, J.R., et al. “Toxicity and Carcinogenicity Studies of Oxazepam in the Fischer
344 Rat.”Toxicological Sciences42 (1998): 1–12.
Fouks, L., et al. “The Clinical Activity of Oxazepam.”Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica.
Supplementum, no. 274 (1978): 99–103.
Griffiths, R.R., et al. “Comparison of Diazepam and Oxazepam: Preference, Liking and
Extent of Abuse.”Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics 229
(1984): 501–8.
Mewaldt, S.P., M.M. Ghoneim, and J.V. Hinrichs. “The Behavioral Actions of Diazepam
and Oxazepam Are Similar.”Psychopharmacology88 (1986): 165–71.
Vaisanen, E., and E. Jalkanen. “A Double-Blind Study of Alprazolam and Oxazepam
in the Treatment of Anxiety.”Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica75 (1987): 536–41.