Safety of Chloroquine in Pregnancy

Abstract
To the Editor:— In the editorial "The Placental Barrier and Drugs" (JAMA190:392 [Oct 26] 1964) reference is made to a paper by Hart and Naunton in the October, 1964, issue of theArchives of Otolaryngology(80:407), reporting on the effects in a woman given chloroquine phosphate during four of her seven pregnancies. The editorial alludes to chloroquine as "yet another drug which is apparently toxic to the developing fetus." In the 20-year period that chloroquine has been available, it has been used by an estimated 1 billion people—by the armed forces of the United States, the armed forces of other nations, and the populations in malarious areas, including pregnant women. No report of fetal damage caused by the drug has ever come to our attention, nor have the various agencies concerned with malarial control in endemic areas made any recommendations to withhold antimalarials from pregnant women. The