The DA has urged Social Development Minister Zola Skwe-yiya to launch a national education campaign on the dangers of drug abuse.

This follows a Weekend Argus report that in some parts of Cape Town, up to 10% of pregnant mothers are addicted to the highly toxic tik (crystal meth).

A pilot study last year involving 100 mothers attending antenatal clinics in the Tygerberg area found that 10 of the women had used tik during their pregnancies.

According to Western Cape Health Department official Miranda Anthony, several hundred babies could have been born to tik-addicted mothers in the Tygerberg area in the past year.

The DA urged Skweyiya and his department to "urgently launch a national education programme to warn about the dangers of drugs abuse, particularly pregnant mothers".

The DA added that it would submit parliamentary questions to Skweyiya around whether current anti-drug campaigns have had any real impact.

"I am shocked that this country's drug problems are also affecting unborn children," DA MP Mike Waters said.

Researchers had found that the use of tik during pregnancy caused prenatal complications and increased rates of premature delivery, and altered neonatal behavioural patterns, including abnormal reflexes and extreme irritability among both babies and mothers, An-thony said.