Serious birth defects linked to the agricultural chemical atrazine
by S. L. Baker, features writer
(NaturalNews) Gastroschisis is a birth defect in which the intestines,
and sometimes other organs, develop outside the fetal abdomen and poke
out through an opening in the abdominal wall. Long considered a rare
occurrence, gastroschisis has mysteriously been on the rise over the
last three decades. In fact, the incidence of the defect has soared,
increasing two to four times in the last 30 years. But why?
Researchers think they’ve found the answer. The culprit behind the
suffering of babies born with this condition appears to be the
agricultural chemical atrazine. That’s the conclusion of a study just
presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal
Medicine (SMFM) held in Chicago.
Researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle were alerted to
a higher than normal number of cases in of the birth defect in babies
born in eastern Washington. So they began investigating to see if the
increased incidence was due to some kind of environmental exposure in
that area.
“Our state has about two times the national average number of cases of
gastroschisis,” Dr. Sarah Waller, one of the study’s authors, said in
a statement to the media. “The life expectancy for fetuses with this
diagnosis is better than 90 percent; however it requires delivery at a
tertiary care center with immediate neonatal intervention which often
separates families and can cause serious financial and emotional
stress.”
The condition can lead to poor function of the bowel after delivery
and potential long term feeding problems. Bottom line: babies with
this birth defect must undergo the trauma of surgery right after
birth. And while most survive, some babies with gastroschisis have
significant damage to the bowel due to direct contact between the
intestine and amniotic fluid or because the intestine was twisted.
These infants may develop a condition known as “short gut” which can
lead to stunted growth and a host of feeding and other problems.
For the new study, Dr. Waller and her research team went to work
investigating all cases of live born infants with gastroschisis during
the period between 1987 and 2006. They matched birth certificates with
databases from the U.S. Geological Survey that revealed where
agricultural spraying took place and what chemicals were used. It
turns out the chemicals atrazine, nitrates, and 2, 4
dichlorophenoxyacetic acid were heavily sprayed in the area.
Of the 805 cases and 3,616 controls in the study, gastroschisis
developed far more frequently among babies whose mothers lived less
than 25 km from the site of high surface water that was specifically
contaminated with one of the chemicals — atrazine. What’s more, the
risk of gastroschisis was found to especially rise in babies of women
who conceived in the spring, from March through May. Those are the
months when use of the chemical is the most prevalent.
The problem with atrazine
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), atrazine is
applied to crops (especially corn, sorghum, and sugarcane) before and
after planting to control broadleaf and grassy weeds. It is used most
heavily in the Midwest on agricultural crops but it is also applied to
residential lawns, particularly in Florida and the Southeast.
Problems linked to atrazine have been in the news previously. Earlier
research showed it causes sexual abnormalities in frogs and the
chemical has also been linked to prostate cancer in workers at an
atrazine manufacturing plant.
So why is it still widely used? Unfortunately, the EPA has done little
to address the mounting evidence that atrazine is harmful to humans as
well as animals. Last fall the agency announced it was going to start
a new assessment of the chemical in 2010 that could take months to
years to complete. In the meantime, tons of atrazine will continue to
be sprayed on crops and lawns — and mothers and their unborn babies
will continue to be exposed to this chemical now linked to a serious
and potentially deadly birth defects.
For more information:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/…
