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PATERSON, N. J.
MORNING NEWS

— 0. 7,998 —

CITY METROPOLITAN AREA

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NEW YorK

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she was ejected from the castle

Papa Is a Parent, Too

 

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Eow the March

By VIRGINIA APGAR, M.D, M.P.H. |

Drrecior, Basic Research Dept. |

The National Foundation
‘March of Dimes

Since Biblical times, hus-
hands have heaped coals of |
fire on wives whenever there |
was anything amiss
children.

If Johnny was born with a!
shortened leg, the fault was,
obviously his mother’s, for!
hadn’t Johnny been an insep-
arable part of her during her
nine months of pregnancy?

 

 

Certainly no blame could be],
directed at the father, the male |.

argued. because his role in cre-
ating Johnny had been mini-
mal and fleeting.
Monarchies have been
rocked because a Queen
“falled” to produce a male
heir. We all recall what hap-
pened to Catherine of Aragon
when, in effect, Henry VIII of
England charged her with will-
ful neglect in refusing to bear
him a male heir. Catherine
didn’t get beheaded, as did
two of the King’s helpmeeis,
but for her “sins” of omission

by means of divorce.

In our day, biology has made
mincemeat of this male ego-
tism. Among this century’s dis:.
coveries about the male is that.
the sex of his offspring is de-’
termined by his sperm. At the
moment of conception, the
mother plays no part in the
union of the two cells that de-
termines whether, nine months
later, she will present her lord
and master with a boy ora girl.

Science has known this for
more than half a century, but
it is a fact still largely un-
known to the man-in-the-street
and his spouse.

Aside from supposed respon-
sibility for the sex of their
children, women are usually
blamed for any birth defects
that appear. Some psychia-
trists say that women are in-
clined, secretly or otherwise, to
accept that censure and In con-
sequence to suffer from feelings
of guilt.

Another frequent accusation

 

is that many women continue

S

of Eimes Fights Birth Defects

    
   

“Monarchies have been rocked because a Queen ‘failed’ to pro-
duce a male heir. We all recall what happened to Catherine of
Aragon when, in effect, Henry VIII of England charged her with
willful neglect in refusing to bear him a male heir.”

bearing children Jong after
they should. Columnists in our
daily press, magazine writers,
gynecoiogisis and others join
in a. drumbeat of warnings to
women against risking child-
birth at age 35 or older. The
reasons are mostly sound and
include the increased incidence
amdng these older mothers of
mongoloid infants, those born
with mental defects, and appar-
ently achondroplasia (dwarf-
ism), heart defects, and babies
born smaller than usual.
What distresses me is that
while on the distaff side there
are many genetic and uterine
studies, on the male side there

are almost no investigations

whatever. The National Foun-
dation-March of Dimes, now

combating birth defects after.

its successful campaign against
polio, believes that more stud-
ies of the male role in procrea-
tion should be undertaken so
that our picture in time may
become less lopsided.

What about the father’s age,
particularly when he is 40 or
over? A 15- or even 20-year
differential is not highly un-

; common between spouses now-

adays. In relation to birth and
birth defects, does the male’s

 

sperm deieriorate or otherwise’
change after a given age? Ig
male age a factor even when
the partners are about the
same age? Some respected ine:
vestigators think it may be.

We have fairly well-
grounded suspicions today that
the age of the father might not
be the only factor involved in
passing along defective char-
acteristics to his children. It
has already been established,
for example, that even a young
man can have a role in trans-
mitting a -familial form of
mongolism. And recently, in
Hawaii, I heard a medical
paper that demonstrated that:
when the gene that causes club!
foot is present in pure Hawai
ians, it is more often the male!
who carries it.

Oddly enough, papa also ape|
pears to be responsible exclus'
sively for passing along eXCes- |
sively hairy ears seen among
some natives of India and Ceye:
lon. It is a reasonable assump-'
tion that, as our knowledge of
chromosomes in the male in-
creases, we will find more
birth defects attributable to
him. :

The time has come for a long
look at papa.

 

 

 

CO