Female veterinarians have double risk of miscarrying as a result of connection to anesthetic gases and pesticides, a study released on April 1, 2008 in the BMJ Specialty Journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine. The results warn all young female vets, who need to be more informed of the inherent risks should they want to have a baby.

Health Work of Australian Veterinarians Project (HRAV):
The work was done as part of a study known as the Health Risks of Australian Veterinarians Project (HRAV), by making an analysis of all graduates from Australian veterinary schools between 1960 and 2000. 5,700 graduates were contacted out of which 2,800 responded and 1200 were women .Among these female respondents there were 1,355 pregnancies reported, 940 were happened while the woman was working in clinical practice. This set of pregnancies was reckoned qualified to comprise in the study.

Effects of X-rays and Anesthetics:

Women who performed surgeries and were opened to unfiltered anesthetic gases for one hour or more a week had the chance of miscarriage 2.5 times. It was same for vets who used pesticides in their work. The chance of miscarrying was 1.8 times among female veterinarians who performed x-rays more than five times a week. The tendency shows to be regular over time, as when the analysis was bound to recent graduates (between 1980 and 2000) the results were same.

A warning from the Authors:

The results enticed the authors to sound warn to female vets who are near of birth-giving age, that they “should be completely informed of the certain reproductive effects of ionizing radiation, unscvenged anesthetic gases, and contact with pesticides.” This could potentially apply to other members as well. Thus, they advise that these women should protect themselves when planning to start and during pregnancy.

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