To the Editor.— I read with interest Bargman's views in the November issue of theArchives 1 regarding the safety of podophyllin. Podophyllin is used regularly the world over as a first-line treatment of venereal warts, with only a handful of reported cases of systemic toxic reaction. However, I am not in agreement with his statement ... it would seem unwarranted to say that podophyllin is contraindicated in Experiments in both mice 2 and rats 3 have demonstrated clearly that podophyllin is embryotoxic and also has a strong growth-retarding effect on developing fetuses. In animal studies, tests on mice and rats show maximum concordance with human teratogenicity data (80% to 85% concordance 4 ). Further, it is generally accepted that all antimitotics (including podophyllotoxin, the main active compound in podophyllin) should be avoided in pregnancy. The edition of Rook's Textbook of Dermatology quoted by Bargman is the third (1979) edition, while,