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About
19,000 fetal deaths occur in the United States each
year, and the causes remain a significant public health
problem. Among known risk factors are smoking, advanced age
among pregnant women and previous history of fetal deaths.
In the past, few
epidemiological studies of pesticide exposure and birth defects
have considered timing of possible exposures. And now it appears
pregnant women living close to farms where pesticides
are sprayed on fields may have an increased
risk of having a fetus die due to birth defects.
This is the first
study to our knowledge of pesticides and pregnancy in which
exposures were in close proximity to the subjects and the
verification of pesticide use was objective, not relying on
people's memories of what they might have been exposed to.
Researchers found
a slight increase of fetal death due to birth defects when
pesticides were applied near where the pregnant women lived.
That span -- much
of the first trimester -- appears to be a special window
of vulnerability for birth defects, just as earlier research
has suggested. If the women were exposed during the 3rd and
8th week of pregnancy -- the point when the fetal organs are
forming -- the fetus seemed to be the most vulnerable to the
effects of pesticide exposure.
The association
increased for women living within 1 square mile of the field
where pesticide application occurred.
The take home message
is clear:
Living
close to areas where agricultural pesticides are applied will
boost the risk of fetal death due to birth defects.
Epidemiology March 2001;22:148-156
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