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NYTimes.com Article: In Fetal Photos, New DevelopmentsFrom: rmodugno@aol.comMon May 17 09:04:23 2004
The article below from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by rmodugno@aol.com. More on fetal fotos /--------- E-mail Sponsored by Fox Searchlight ------------\ Sundance Channel's critically acclaimed series, "Anatomy of a Scene" continues with weekly broadcasts Tuesdays at 9pm. "Anatomy of a Scene" gives viewers an insider's peek into the filmmaking process, spotlighting a single scene from a new theatrical release. This week the scene is from THE CLEARING, a new thriller from Fox Searchlight Pictures starring Robert Redford, Helen Mirren and Willem Dafoe. THE CLEARING will be in theaters July 2. On the web at: http://www.foxsearchlight.com/theclearing/index_sc.html \----------------------------------------------------------/
\----------------------------------------------------------/ In Fetal Photos, New Developments \----------------------------------------------------------/ May 17, 2004 By MARC SANTORA "I'm going to cry." Limor Fronimos, 25 weeks pregnant, was taking part in one of the stranger and more controversial outgrowths of the ultrasound industry - the high-resolution, artistic photography of fetuses - and was overwhelmed by what she was seeing on the video monitor. For a few hundred dollars, expectant mothers can get sepia-toned prints to give to their families and friends, a CD-ROM with the pictures so they can be e-mailed around the world and a DVD with a 20-minute video of the fetus squirming in the amniotic sac. In an age of medical marvels, nothing would seem out of the ordinary about this experience, except that these ultrasounds are not being performed in doctors' offices or medical clinics, but at fetal photo studios that have been opening across the country in recent years and arrived in Manhattan in March. Mrs. Fronimos, 29, was a client at A Peek in the Pod, just off Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side, in a neighborhood of trendy maternity and children's stores. The top-of-the-line ultrasound package at the studio, including prints, CD-ROM and DVD, costs $295. But along with keepsake pictures, the new studios have generated a good deal of concern. They are not subject to regulation, and anyone with an ultrasound machine - the best cost upwards of $150,000 - can open up shop. The Food and Drug Administration in Washington has issued a blanket warning against what it calls "entertainment" ultrasound photos, and there is a move in Albany, led by the deputy majority leader of the State Senate, Dean G. Skelos, a Republican from Long Island, to try to ban the practice. "This is high-powered equipment, and every step must be taken to ensure that mothers and their unborn children are protected from unforeseen harm," Mr. Skelos said about his legislation to ban stores like A Peek in the Pod. "This legislation will guarantee that ultrasounds are limited to medically necessary treatments." Prenatal ultrasound works by sending energy into the mother's womb in the form of sound waves, which bounce off the fetus and are converted into images. When the practice first began more than two decades ago, the images were so cloudy and blurred that to all but the most expert eye they seemed more like Rorschach blots than portraits. However, in the past few years, there have been tremendous strides in the technology, which has moved from two-dimensional black-and-white images to three-dimensional color stills to videos. About a year ago, General Electric ran a series of national advertisements about the technology and its results. Industry officials said the response from mothers was overwhelming. They wanted to see the kinds of pictures featured in the ads. "The advances in technology that we have seen have created pictures that are much more lifelike," said Dr. Daniel Schultz, the acting director for the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Devices and Radiological Health. Dr. Schultz said that over the years ultrasound technology has proved safe, but that when the agency first learned of the artistic ultrasound photos in 1994 in Texas, it recommended against the technology's use for any purpose other than medical. The fear was that an irresponsible practitioner could subject a woman to a dangerously long exposure to ultrasound. As more shops have opened in the past year, Dr. Schultz said, the food and drug agency thought it should issue the warning again. "From the sense we are getting, we are dealing with a growing issue," he said. The F.D.A. governs only the advertising and selling of the equipment and does not police how it is used. Still, Dr. Schultz said: "It makes us nervous. The message that we would like to get out is that women should not engage in this activity or any other activity that could possibly have a harmful effect on their child." Rocky McClintock, the owner of A Peek in the Pod, agrees that it would be wise to establish a set of guidelines. In the absence of a standard, she has set her own rules. She has hired a sonographer, Narda L. Johnson, to perform the ultrasounds. She also requires that clients have prenatal care and consult with their doctors before coming in for sessions. The studio recommends that women who have the keepsake sonograms be from 22 to 32 weeks pregnant, that the length of one ultrasound session be no more than 20 minutes, and that no client undergo more than three sessions, each on different days. Ms. McClintock said that of about 60 clients who have come to her seeking ultrasounds since the store opened in March, only 2 had doctors who opposed the idea, and those women did not proceed with the sessions. The room where the ultrasound is performed looks more like a New Age spa than a sterile hospital room. The bed is soft, the lights are chilled, and in the corner, for children, there is a PlayStation. The music playing gently in the background also serves as the soundtrack for the DVD the clients receive. It was composed by a client's husband, Marc Bazermat, who was so taken by the experience he had with his wife that he created what they call in the office "The Ultrasound Song." "Clients can also bring in their own music," Ms. McClintock said. So an unborn baby can groove to the Beatles or Busta Rhymes, depending on what the parents think their offspring's tastes may be. Mrs. Fronimos's tiny daughter seemed to favor chocolate. When the baby would not cooperate, choosing instead to shield herself with tiny hands from the prenatal equivalent of paparazzi, Ms. Johnson turned to a trick she picked up during the 20 years she has performed ultrasounds in doctors' offices. She gave the mother chocolate. "It goes straight to the baby," Ms. Johnson said. "It's a sugar rush." Sure enough, the image on the screen soon became clearer, and a big smile could be discerned. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/17/nyregion/17fetus.html?ex=1085802642&ei=1&en=bdc3f0f54184cbb6 --------------------------------- Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. Imagine --------------------------------- reading The New York Times any time & anywhere you like! --------------------------------- Leisurely catch up on events & expand your horizons. Enjoy now for 50% off Home Delivery! Click here: http://homedelivery.nytimes.com/HDS/SubscriptionT1.do?mode=SubscriptionT1&ExternalMediaCode=W24AF HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters --------------------------------- or other creative advertising opportunities with The --------------------------------- New York Times on the Web, please contact onlinesales@nytimes.com or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@nytimes.com. Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
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