History of the Society

The Teratology Society was founded by Drs. F. Clarke Fraser, Josef Warkany and James G. Wilson in 1960 with the first annual meeting in 1961. The purpose of the society was to foster exchange of information relating to congenital (birth) defects including their nature, cause, mechanism and prevention.

The Society in 1997 consisted of 798 members drawn from a wide range of scientific fields including pediatrics, anatomy, epidemiology, pharmacology and industrial toxicology, developmental biology, obstetrics, pathology, genetics and dentistry. There are 157 members from outside the United States.

The Society through its officers and council members plans the annual meetings and carries out the business related to the interests of its members. A number of committees aid the society in such areas as elections, education, publications, student affairs, legislative affairs and other mostly ad hoc groups. Symposia and refresher courses are included in the annual meeting.

Birth Defects Research (formerly known as Teratology) is the official journal of the Society. It is a three part journal which publishes animal, clinical and experimental research papers as well as reviews and other pertinent material relating to congenital malformations. See journal scopes pages.

The Society has taken public stands on the following subjects: the inadvisably of applying the Delaney clause to animal teratogens, retinoic acid (vitamin A), folic acid, and the developmental toxicity of endocrine disruptors to humans. A code of ethics and guidelines for ethical publication and presentation of scientific information and data has been published in the journal in 1997.

The nature of the meetings in the early years consisted largely of descriptive and animal studies of various agents with fewer papers on the mechanisms that lead to birth defects. The society played a role in the establishment of animal studies and regulations for testing pharmaceutical products. Over the past 20 years the predominant studies have turned to the basic pharmacologic, molecular and genetic aspects of congenital defects. The use of in vitro studies especially whole embryo culture as well as special genetic strains of mice are commonly employed. In the past 10 years epidemiologic studies have also become an important aspect of the annual meetings.

Several newer societies with common interests meet in conjunction with the annual Teratology Society meetings. These are the Neurobehavioral Teratology Society, Behavioral Toxicology Society, and Organization of Teratology Information Societies (OTIS). Other teratology societies are active in Japan, Europe and Australia and every three years all these societies join together for a meeting of the International Federation of Teratology Societies (IFTS).