Motherisk, created in 1985, is a clinical research and teaching program at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that provides information and guidance to pregnant or lactating women and to health care professionals regarding risks to the fetus from exposure to drugs, chemicals, diseases, radiation and environmental agents.
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Awards
Gideon Koren and colleagues for the Motherisk team were recognized as one of the two highest-ranking winners of the 2011 CIHR/CMAJ competition for Top Achievements in Health Research. The CMAJ published their Essay for the 2011 award.
Controversy
An independent review commissioned by the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General concluded in 2015 that "hair-strand drug and alcohol testing used by the Motherisk Drug Testing Laboratory between 2005 and 2015 was inadequate and unreliable for use in child protection and criminal proceedings and that the Laboratory did not meet internationally recognized forensic standards. The report called for further investigation of cases where testing by Motherisk had been used as evidence in child protection and criminal proceeding, citing "serious implications for the fairness of those proceedings".