The Myth That LSD Causes Birth Defects and Chromosome Damage

Some Notes Concerning the Myth That LSD Causes Birth Defects and Chromosome Damage
By Rendi Case

Apparently the old myth that LSD causes chromosome damage and therefore birth defects is propagated on message boards and forums concerning pregnancy. Also, it would not be surprising to see these myths being spread in anti-drug media despite the studies that have disproved this myth.
No one thinks it is a good idea for pregnant women to use drugs that will adversely affect the health of their unborn child, nor does anyone think that children should be encouraged to use recreational drugs. But the use of disinformation and scare tactics is never a good idea and can only hurt in the long run.
The rationalization that such disinformation is propagated with the intent to discourage dangerous drug use does not justify dishonesty and inaccuracy. If a child, for example, discovers that his school’s anti-drug program has lied about one thing (that LSD causes birth defects) he or she may then assume that this program lies about other things such as the addictive properties of heroin or cocaine.
The passage quoted below and the references cited show that LSD use does not cause chromosome damage or birth defects. However, it is important to note that LSD and some ergot derivatives such as LSA can induce labor (premature or otherwise) in pregnant women. These compounds are found in the seeds of Morning Glory (Ipomoea spp., Turbina spp. etc.), Hawaiian Baby Woodrose (Argyreia spp.) and in various plants like Sleepy Grass (Stipa robusta). Indeed, the Mazatec people of Oaxica, Mexico use the seeds of Morning Glories to help women in labor when necessary but otherwise the Mazatec women abstain from these seeds in their child-rearing years to ensure that no abortions or premature births are induced. Substances that contain LSD, LSA or other ergot derivatives should be avoided by all women who may possibly be pregnant in order to avoid such calamities.
With that having been said, let us examine the old myths that LSD causes birth defects and/or chromosome damage.
The following is a passage from Narby, Jeremy 1998 The Cosmic Serpent – DNA and the Origins of Knowledge page 124;

“At the end of the 1960s, the uneasiness about the casual and large-scale use of LSD generated the rumor that hallucinogens “break chromosomes.” In the ensuing hysteria, all kinds of poorly conceived experiments seemed to confirm this hypothesis. For instance, researchers administered the equivalent of more that three thousand LSD doses to female monkeys in their fourth month of pregnancy; at birth, one infant monkey was stillborn, two others showed “facial deformities,” and a fourth died after a month – mainly proving that these animals had been severely and unnecessarily ill-treated. Other researchers noticed that naked DNA, extracted from the cell’s nucleus and placed in a test tube, attracted LSD and other hallucinogenic molecules; according to their calculations, these molecules intercalated between the rungs of the ladder formed by the double helix, thereby causing the famous “chromosome breaks.” 17 (Later it was pointed out that naked DNA attracted thousands of substances this way.)”

The following is the note referred to in the above quoted passage (page 201 – 202);

“17. Kato et al. (1970) administered four to eleven LSD injections to four pregnant monkeys in their third to fourth month of pregnancy. The total amount of these varied from 875 micrograms/kg to 9,000 micrograms/kg: the average total dose being 4,937 micrograms/kg (about 100 micrograms for a person weighing 70 kg or 154 pounds). Thus, the average total dose inflicted on these monkeys was 3,000 times greater than the normal quantity ingested by humans. Along the same lines, it is worth mentioning the research conducted by Cohen et al. (1967), which set off the whole “chromosome breaks” scare: These scientists poured high concentrations of LSD on cultured cells and went on to show that the chromosomes of these cells featured twice as many breaks as normal. It has since been shown that substances in common use, such as milk, caffeine, and aspirin, lead to similar results at sufficient concentrations (see, for instance, Kato and Jarvik 1969). Dishotsky et al. (1971), who reviewed a total of 68 studies on the supposed effects of LSD on chromosomes, wrote in the conclusion of their article for Science: “From our own work and from a review of the literature, we believe that pure LSD ingested in moderate doses does not damage chromosomes in vivo, does not cause detectable genetic damage, and is not a teratogen or carcinogen in man. Within these bounds, therefore, we suggest that, other than during pregnancy, there is no present contraindication to the continued controlled experimental use of pure LSD” (p.439). Finally, see Yeilding and Sterglanz (1968), Smythies and Antun (1969), and Wagner (1969) concerning the intercalation of LSD into DNA. “

Bibliographic references cited in the above quoted passage;

Dishotsky, Norman I., et al. 1971. LSD and genetic damage: Is LSD chromosome damaging, carcinogenic, mutagenic or teratogenic? Science, 172 (3982):431-440.

Coehen, Maimon M., et al. 1967. Chromosome damage in human leukocytes induced by lysergic acid diethylamide. Science, 155:1417-1419.

Kato, Takashi, and Lissy F. Jarvik. 1969. LSD-25 and genetic damage. Diseases of the Nervous System, 30:42-46.

Kato, Takashi, et al. 1970. Chromosome studies in pregnant rhesus macaques given LSD-25. Diseases of the Nervous System, 31:245-250.

Smythies, John R., and F. Antun. 1969. Binding of tryptamine and allied compounds to nucleic acids. Nature, 223:1061-1063.

Wagner, T.E. 1969. In vitro interaction of LSD with purified calf thymus DNA. Nature, 222:1170-1172.

Yeilding, K. Lemone, and Helene Sterglanz. 1968. Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) binding to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine, 128:1096-1098.