Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
THE Fetal Life Study received an inquiry early in 1962 concerning the incidence of phocomelia in relation to a recent increase that had been observed in West Germany. The Fetal Life Study1 , 2 was established in 1946 in a selected population at the Columbia–Presbyterian Medical Center as a long-term prospective epidemiologic investigation of human reproduction, to determine the incidence of fetal deaths, neonatal deaths and congenital malformations and to delineate associated factors. From more than 10,000 pregnancies prospectively followed in the years 1946 to 1960, and more than 2000 followed in 1961, we were unable to find any cases of phocomelia . . .
Mellin et al. (Thu,) studied this question.