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LactMed, a free online database with information on drugs and lactation, is one of the newest additions to the National Library of Medicine's TOXNET system, a Web-based collection of resources covering toxicology, chemical safety and environmental health. LactMed may be searched at http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/htmlgen?LACT.
Geared to the healthcare practitioner and nursing mother, LactMed contains over 450 drug records. It includes information such as maternal levels in breast milk, infant levels in blood, potential effects in breast-feeding infants and on lactation itself. The American Academy of Pediatrics' LactMed category indicates the level of compatibility of the drug with breast-feeding and alternate drugs to consider. As a work in progress, LactMed will continue to expand, with additional drugs and with other substances, such as industrial chemicals and radiation.
