Toward the prevention of human birth defects: a personal perspective

Twenty years ago, the late Professor Hideo Nishimura identified some unsolved problems in teratology. His prediction concerning the future advances in this research area has in part become a reality by the year of 2001, but some difficult problems have still to be solved. We neither understand the causes and initiating mechanisms of a vast majority of birth defects nor have measures that can effectively prevent the birth of malformed babies. With the remarkable advances in molecular biology, the tune has come when we have the ability to elucidate the mechanisms of abnormal development and identify procedures to prevent human birth defects.