354 PCP
meaning that alcohol increases the likelihood of a manic reaction. In mice
marijuana has reduced hyperactivity caused by PCP.
Cancer.Not enough scientific information to report.
Pregnancy.Two studies published only a few months apart in the 1980s
gave different impressions about the prevalence of PCP use among pregnant
women. In one study a group of 2,327 pregnant women were tested for PCP
use; 19 were taking the drug. Those 19 were typically polydrug abusers. A
different study of 200 pregnant women found 24 using PCP, a rate 15 times
higher than in the other group.
If a pregnant woman uses PCP, it passes into the fetus. Reports exist of PCP
being detected in newborns three months after the mothers claimed to have
stopped using the drug during pregnancy, which would mean that the drug
remains in a fetus months after a pregnant woman stops taking PCP. Whether
the women’s claims of abstinence were confirmed by laboratory testing during
those months of pregnancy is unclear, however. In mice and pigs PCP builds
up in the fetus, reaching levels 7 to 10 times higher than in the female’s blood-
stream.
The drug is suspected of causing birth defects. At dosage levels high enough
to poison the pregnant female, birth defects have been produced in rats and
mice. Rats with prenatal exposure to PCP show defective memory and learn-
ing ability. The substance is suspected of harming fetal brain development in
humans. Pregnant women who use the drug tend to produce infants who are
smaller than normal. In a group of 83 infants with prenatal PCP exposure,
almost half had a head circumference below the 25th percentile (meaning that
75% of infants in the general population have bigger heads and, by implica-
tion, larger brains). Some were below the 10th percentile. Smaller-than-normal
infant skulls may interfere with physical growth of the brain. People who
abuse one drug tend to abuse others as well; one study of 41 women who
used PCP during pregnancy found that most had also been using cocaine.
Two studies of women who used PCP during pregnancy found that all were
poor; most were unmarried, were in an ethnic minority, and had received
inadequate prenatal care. Such factors confound efforts to confirm what effect
PCP alone has on pregnancy.
Offspring of mothers who have been using PCP can exhibit symptoms sim-
ilar to those seen in infants undergoing opiate withdrawal—even though the
drug is not an opiate, and research has yet to demonstrate that PCP depen-
dence occurs. Infant distress may be real, but the newborn may be responding
to the unpleasant effects of the drug itself rather than responding to sudden
absence of the drug.
A year after birth, a group of 57 babies with prenatal PCP exposure showed
normal development in mental ability and physical coordination, although
almost half were ill-tempered. About 15% had trouble sleeping, and the same
percentage lacked normal emotional attachment. Those findings are consistent
with other studies. Home environment, of course, may influence behavior as
much or more than prenatal drug exposure. Factors noted above (lack of
money, absent father, being in a disadvantaged ethnic minority) can weaken
home life. Still, the kinds of brain function damage seen in animal studies are
the kinds of damage that should interfere with children’s abilities to socialize
