New CTIS Collaboration With WIC to Help Women Avoid Risky Drinking During Pregnancy

SAN DIEGO, CA--(Marketwire - August 13, 2009) - The California Teratogen Information Service
(CTIS) -- a non-profit housed at the University of California, San
Diego School of Medicine and serving the entire state of California -- has
joined with San Diego State University's Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program in a project aimed
to prevent alcohol consumption during pregnancy.

Funded by a grant from the Agency for
Healthcare Research and Quality, CTIS will evaluate the effectiveness
of an adapted web-based alcohol program that aims to measure and reduce
current alcohol consumption among low-income non-pregnant women
participating in WIC's Special Supplemental Nutritional Program.

"Our mission is to educate women on risks and to promote a healthy
pregnancy outcome," said Dr. Christina Chambers, the program director of
the CTIS Pregnancy Risk Line and associate professor of Pediatrics at the
University of California, San Diego. "Heavy prenatal alcohol use is a
common known cause of adverse effects in a developing baby and is
completely preventable. This program has great potential to address this
critical issue using 21st century technology."

The new web-based program is adapted from the "electronic-Check Up To Go"
(e-CHUG), originally developed at San
Diego State University (SDSU) as an alcohol assessment and intervention
tool, and is currently being used successfully in over 300 college campuses
throughout the U.S. The e-CHUG program draws on motivational interviewing
and social norms feedback to motivate individuals to reduce their alcohol
consumption.

Through formative research, the e-CHUG program was specially redesigned to
address alcohol consumption in women of childbearing potential. CTIS played
a large role in ensuring the appropriateness of the modified program, a
first of its kind for WIC in the alcohol field.

"The web-based platform of the study is unique as it allows it to be more
specific and interactive than other existing computer-based programs," said
Katia Delrahim Howlett, a doctoral candidate and the principal investigator
of the CTIS study. "CTIS hopes to see the program feedback positively
influence participants by increasing awareness of the negative affects of
alcohol use during pregnancy."

CTIS will test the effectiveness of the adapted program through a
small-scale two-group randomized controlled trial, with and without the
addition of a web-based personalized feedback. The feedback is intended to
reduce risky alcohol use within WIC participants, as defined by the
consumption of three or more alcoholic drinks in one occasion.

Qualified and consenting participants will be randomly assigned to complete
the web-based assessment and will receive either general health feedback or
personalized feedback intervention. All participants will complete
follow-up assessments on reported alcohol consumption after one month and
two months.

If the findings of the preliminary study demonstrate that the program is
effective, CTIS will continue to validate its findings through additional
studies. If the program is further validated, it has the potential to be
implemented as a cost-effective program of similar nature into different
types of clinical settings. The goal will be to appropriately and
accurately assess multiple health behaviors in order to provide appropriate
feedback and health education to improve health outcomes of pregnancy.

The launch of the study is a prelude to Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
Awareness Month in September and the 10th annual FASD Day on September 9, 2009. FASD
Awareness Day is promoted by the National Organization of Fetal Alcohol
Syndrome in Washington, D.C.

Founded 27 years ago and housed at the UC San Diego School of Medicine,
CTIS offers a free Pregnancy Risk Information Line at 1-800-532-3749 that
fields questions (in both English and Spanish) about exposure concerns and
where to find medical advice and referral resources to pregnant and
breastfeeding women and their families.

Recently, CTIS launched a new website (www.ctispregnancy.org) that provides
links to the most current information about potentially harmful exposures
-- from illnesses to environmental toxins and hazardous occupational
materials -- before, during and after pregnancy. It also can lead women and
their families and health care providers to other knowledgeable resources
and teratology professionals that specialize in birth defects caused by
exposures during pregnancy.

For more information about CTIS or its free telephone and online services,
call 1-800-532-3749 or visit www.ctispregnancy.org.