According to Roberto Caldreyo-Barcia, MD, former president of the International Federation of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and an eminent researcher into the effects of obstetrical interventions, Pitocin is the most abused drug in the world today.”
“The World Health Organization deplores routinely using Pitocin. The Physician’s Desk Reference says that Pitocin should be used only when medically necessary.”
Eric Hollander of Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, for example, links autistic children with Pitocin-induced labors.
“In 1978, the FDA advisory committee removed its approval of Pitocin for the elective induction of labor. (The drug has never been approved by the FDA for the use of augmenting labor.) The current Physician’s Desk Reference clearly states that ‘Pitocin is not indicated for elective induction of labor’.” [2]
“Augmenting labor, often confused with induction, is a slightly different process, used to help or speed up a labor that began on its own.” “A basic fear of the natural process of childbirth has led, over many centuries, to a cultural warping of childbirth. Justifiable fear about the possible death of a baby or mother in childbirth, combined with beliefs in magic, rituals, drugs, herbal remedies, and much later, technology [technology being viewed on the same level as blood letting], has led to the use of a whole host of ‘cures’ for labors that didn’t seem to start ‘on time’.” [2]
Rachel