Faint
06-02-03, 13:13
Heart defect risk to babies 'if mothers live near incinerators'
Mothers living near incinerators have a higher risk of having a baby with spina bifida or a heart defect, according to a new study.
The research also found an increased risk of stillbirths among women who lived close to a crematorium compared with those living further away.
The authors stressed the study did not provide conclusive evidence that living near an incinerator or crematorium caused birth defects or stillbirths.
But they said the issue should be investigated further, especially as incineration was becoming widely used method of waste disposal.
The research, in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, analysed all births in Cumbria between 1956 and 1993.
During this period there were almost 245,000 births, of which 3,234 were stillborn and 1,569 had congenital abnormalities. A further 2,663 babies died shortly after birth.
The study found that for babies whose mothers lived near incinerators there was no increased risk of stillbirth or death shortly after birth.
But they found the risk of neural tube defects, particularly spina bifida, was 17% higher, and heart defects 12% higher, among babies born to mothers who lived near an incinerator.
When they concentrated on the period before the incinerators starting working, no increased risk of stillbirths or birth defects was found.
For mothers who lived near a crematorium, the study found the risk of stillbirth was 4% higher.
And the chances of the baby having a life-threatening brain
abnormality known as anencephalus was 5% higher.
Story filed: 06:40 Thursday 29th May 2003
Wonder how this will turn out. If the risk is proven, or the lawyers decide to run with this much of a study, it means us rural folks will get that much more crap dumped in our backyards. If it is so "safe" why are they shipping it out to us?
Faint
Mothers living near incinerators have a higher risk of having a baby with spina bifida or a heart defect, according to a new study.
The research also found an increased risk of stillbirths among women who lived close to a crematorium compared with those living further away.
The authors stressed the study did not provide conclusive evidence that living near an incinerator or crematorium caused birth defects or stillbirths.
But they said the issue should be investigated further, especially as incineration was becoming widely used method of waste disposal.
The research, in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, analysed all births in Cumbria between 1956 and 1993.
During this period there were almost 245,000 births, of which 3,234 were stillborn and 1,569 had congenital abnormalities. A further 2,663 babies died shortly after birth.
The study found that for babies whose mothers lived near incinerators there was no increased risk of stillbirth or death shortly after birth.
But they found the risk of neural tube defects, particularly spina bifida, was 17% higher, and heart defects 12% higher, among babies born to mothers who lived near an incinerator.
When they concentrated on the period before the incinerators starting working, no increased risk of stillbirths or birth defects was found.
For mothers who lived near a crematorium, the study found the risk of stillbirth was 4% higher.
And the chances of the baby having a life-threatening brain
abnormality known as anencephalus was 5% higher.
Story filed: 06:40 Thursday 29th May 2003
Wonder how this will turn out. If the risk is proven, or the lawyers decide to run with this much of a study, it means us rural folks will get that much more crap dumped in our backyards. If it is so "safe" why are they shipping it out to us?
Faint