The gentlebirth.org website is provided courtesy of
Ronnie Falcao, LM MS,
a homebirth midwife in Mountain View, CA
The gentlebirth.org website is provided courtesy of
Ronnie Falcao, LM MS,
a homebirth midwife in Mountain View, CA
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An interactive resource for moms on easy steps they can take to reduce exposure to chemical toxins during pregnancy. Other excellent resources about avoiding toxins during pregnancy These are easy to read and understand and are beautifully presented. |
V.I. Govallo is a Russian physician and immunologist, born in 1933 and living in Moscow, who for more than thirty years has conducted research on immunologic techniques for preventing miscarriage. Empirical Therapies, Inc., is now offering his latest technique for women in North America and elsewhere who have a tendency to miscarry.
In the 1960s, Dr. Govallo discovered the technique of making a preparation of the father's white blood cells (lymphocytes) and injecting it into the mother. This technique strengthened the immune system of the fetus and enabled it to survive the nine months of pregnancy without being expelled (miscarriage). Treating over 600 women in this way Govallo had a success rate of 91% (resulting in 550 live births). His colleagues in Russia adopted it subsequently, and to date more than 10,000 babies have been born using this lymphocyte technique.
However, it is cumbersome and expensive, and Dr. Govallo refined a better approach in 1992 -- employing an extract of human placenta obtained after a normal pregnancy and a healthy, live birth (never from abortions). In the past five years, he has treated about 100 women, including 15 who had never conceived at all, resulting in over 70 live full-term births, indicating a 70% success ratio.
Dr. Govallo has noted that, starting in the 1960s and continuing up to the present day, for reasons not yet adequately understood, all the industrialized countries of the world have seen a striking increase in the incidence of miscarriage. He attributes this to a general impairment of the human immune system caused by environmental factors.
Thus, miscarriage reflects a certain immunologic weakness of the mother which disturbs the normal progress of a pregnancy. The immune reactions of pregnancy start immediately after conception and continue until the baby is born. As the fetus grows in the uterus, it works out a relationship of immunologic compatibility with the mother, for the fetus is 50 percent genetic material from the father, and the natural reaction of the mother's immune system is to reject it, just as the body will tend to reject an organ transplant. The placenta is the organ which moderates this tendency of the mother to reject or suppress the fetus. It responds by developing substances which "block" the maternal suppressor mechanisms and protect the fetus from maternal assault.
If the production of "blocking factors" by the placenta is inadequate, the mother's suppressor mechanisms will be too powerful for the fetus, and the outcome is miscarriage. The injected placental extract increases the amount of "blocking factors" and thereby protects the fetus from miscarriage.
Thus, in Dr. Govallo's view, the immune system is central to the origin of life. The founders of immunology thought of immunity purely as a defensive mechanism, but immunity is also a reaction which guarantees and assures life. It enables all the cells which contribute to life to work together in harmony. Preserving this process, not just protecting it from outside intrusion, is the principal task of the immune system.
This treatment is far less expensive and less complicated than other contemporary treatments for miscarriage. Further, the cost of treatment covers a period of 1 year, so any booster shots are provided free of charge. The therapy consists primarily of one to three injections of a small quantity of placental extract, manufactured according to strict standards of quality and purity, and is administered by a licensed physician in the Bahamas. The treatment is given on an out-patient basis and requires one to three trips to the Bahamas at one-month intervals, staying a day or two each time. The frequency of treatment is determined by each patient's individual condition, that is, whether she is already pregnant, is in imminent danger of miscarriage, or has previously had several miscarriages. The course of treatment will be established at the time of diagnosis.
For further information, please contact:
Harris L. Coulter, Ph.D., President Empirical Therapies, Inc. 4221 45th Street, NW Washington, DC 200l6 Tel. (202) 364-0898 Fax: (202) 362-3407 E-mail: hlcoulter@msn.comAlso see this website.
The Online Birth Center News is copyright 1997 by Donna Zelzer. The individual writers hold copyright to the individual messages. Copies may be freely distributed electronically, as long as
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