cover image The Maternal Imprint: The Contested Science of Maternal-Fetal Effects

The Maternal Imprint: The Contested Science of Maternal-Fetal Effects

Sarah S. Richardson. Univ. of Chicago, $26 trade paper (384p) ISBN 978-0-226-54480-9

Harvard GenderSci Lab director Richardson (Postgenomics) scrutinizes in this rigorous academic study “the bewitching idea that the environment in which you are gestated leaves a permanent imprint on you and your future descendants.” Though she believes that “bodies register their social and physical environments in ways both subtle and profound,” Richardson characterizes data linking “diverse, confounded, and often unspecified stressors registered by the fetus while in the maternal milieu” to obesity, cardiovascular disease, and other health and developmental outcomes as “cryptic.” She also warns that representations of this research in magazine articles and pregnancy guides tend to be “simplified and alarmist,” and may pose a threat to pregnant women’s autonomy. A detailed discussion of convoluted findings from the 1960s and ’70s about the causes and effects of birth-weight disparities between racial groups supports Richardson’s claim that today’s “level of interest and excitement about maternal-fetal epigenetic programming far outstrips what the science actually can and does show.” Though wading through the mountain of statistics Richardson gathers can be tedious, she issues a persuasive warning against research interpretations that foster “a punishingly expansive conception of individual maternal responsibility.” Policymakers, health-care providers, and scientific researchers will want to take note. (Nov.)