1 The design of the classical three segment reproductive test for new drugs is described and the relative merits of the USA/EEC and the Japanese guidelines are discussed.
2 The importance of pharmacokinetic studies in the interpretation of teratology studies and extrapolation to humans is mentioned in relation to caffeine, sodium valproate and cyclophosphamide.
3 Changing ideas on the design of multi-generation studies are reviewed.
4 Recent developments in the fields of behavioural teratology, chemicals in breast milk and transplacental carcinogenesis are described.
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