Lahore:The Asia-Oceania Post-Doctoral Academia (AOPDA), in observance of International Day of Persons with Disabilities, launched a call for action against teratogens, urging global efforts to prevent disabilities among unborn and newborn babies.
In a statement, issued on the occasion, the AOPDA expressed deep concerns that despite annual observances focused on cosmetic measures and societal adjustments to ‘appease’ people with disabilities, there remains a lack of serious scientific investigation into transformative solutions to prevent disabilities from occurring in the first place.
A discourse held at the AOPDA Secretariat in connection with IDPwD 2024 highlighted the pressing need for scientific research and practical interventions to address the causes of disabilities before birth. The release, issued by the AOPDA Secretariat on Tuesday, criticized the fact that, nearly four decades after the global call for action on disability prevention by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 1976, the issu
e of preventing disabilities in newborns has not become a central focus of scientific study. Furthermore, proposed preventive measures have yet to be effectively implemented.
During the event, the AOPDA, in collaboration with the National Postdoctoral Academia (USA), recognized South Asian Postdoctoral Principal Investigator Prof. Dr. Aurangzeb Hafi for his groundbreaking research on disability prevention. His work, titled “1st Annotation Conspectus Inquiry into the Iatro-Teratogenicity”, was hailed as the most significant investigative contribution to understanding pre-birth disabilities and their prevention. This research, which spans over four decades of academic inquiry, aligns with the UNGA’s 1976 call for a comprehensive global action plan to prevent disabilities.
Prof. Hafi’s research, which has been reviewed by distinguished postdoctoral academicians, including Justice (Retd) Dr. SS Paru LLD, D Litt, Chancellor Emeritus of AOPDA, Dr. EM Nawaratne, Senior Provost of AOPDA, and Dr. Belinda E. Huang, S
enior Postdoctoral Moderator and former Director of NPA, offers critical insights into the role of teratogens in causing physical and chemical abnormalities during the embryonic stage.
According to Prof. Hafi, teratogens-substances responsible for causing birth defects-are a major factor in the rising rates of disabilities in developing countries, where regulations to ban harmful substances remain inadequate. His research aims to spark an academic debate on the issue, serving as an urgent call to the global community to address one of the root causes of the increasing prevalence of disabilities worldwide.
On this year’s IDPwD, Prof. Hafi’s research has been recognized as a vital step in the fight against teratogens. His pioneering work includes the development of the IRT Trans-referential Research Model of Iatro-Teratogenicity and the Trans-positional Theory of Embryonic Iatrogenesis and Terato-Kinetics, which explore the preventive potential for disabilities both before and after birth.
In particular, the
Embryonic-Iatrogenesis Causality (EIC) Trove-sheet investigates the connection between certain medications and various forms of disabilities in both unborn and newborn babies. The term *iatro-teratogenicity* refers to the harmful effects of irrational medications administered during pregnancy or lactation. Despite significant advances in medical interventions like vaccines, Prof. Hafi asserts that the past 45 years have seen an alarming rise in the complexity and frequency of pre-birth and post-birth disabilities, along with the emergence of new forms of structural and functional abnormalities.
The AOPDA’s call for a ‘war on teratogens’ emphasizes the urgency of focusing on preventive measures, highlighting the importance of science-driven solutions to reduce the incidence of disabilities from birth onward.