Ultrasound Disturbs Brains

Though ultrasound is considered safe, babies of mice who had ultrasound had abnormal brain development. Full article here.

Quick Summary:

• The animals were marked with a chemical to mark newborn neurons.
• Ultrasounds were applied to the bellies one group of the pregnant mice for the next three days for periods which totaled 5 to 420 minutes.
• A second group had a sham procedure with no ultrasound waves.
• The control group received no procedures.
• The babies of the mice who received more than 30 minutes of ultrasound had brains which embedded material for the outer brain to the inner brain.
• The fake treatment and control group showed no such changes.
• Previous ultrasound studies have shown delayed speech development and increased left-handedness in humans.

My $0.02: Though I question the study because of the high number of the ultrasounds in such a short period, I feel like such results probably apply to humans. I still wonder why such technologies aren't tested for longer on animals before they are introduced to humans. So many women get ultrasounds now, it's impossible to tell what the side effects will be on the population.