Wheat-producing counties have twice as many birth defects

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Wheat-producing counties have twice as many birth defects

 

 

> CBSNews.com: Print This Story

> A New Look At Birth Defects

> HELENA, Mont., July 11, 2003

> http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/07/11/health/main562737.shtml

>

> Babies born in major wheat-producing counties were twice as likely to have

> birth defects as those born in rural counties with low wheat production, a

> new federal study shows.

>

> The research, published in the July issue of Environmental Health

> Perspectives, a peer-reviewed journal of the National Institutes of

Health,

> suggests exposure to common herbicides applied to wheat could be

responsible

> for the increased rate of birth defects.

>

> The study was conducted by Dr. Dina Schreinemachers, a researcher with the

> Environmental Protection Agency in North Carolina. She examined more than

> 43,000 births from 1995 to 1997 in 147 rural counties in Montana, North

> Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota.

>

> She divided the counties by their rates of wheat production according to

> U.S. Department of Agriculture data, then compared the rates of birth

> defects among children born in the counties as provided by the National

> Center for Health Statistics.

>

> Schreinemachers said results of her study indicate that in rural,

> agricultural counties with high wheat production - where the use of

> chlorophenoxy herbicides is higher - rates of certain birth defects

> " significantly increased. "

>

> Specifically, instances of circulatory-respiratory and musculoskeletal

> defects were twice as frequent in high-wheat counties, she said.

>

> Even more significant, baby boys born in high-wheat counties and conceived

> during April or June - when herbicide application normally is in full

> swing - were nearly five times as likely to have birth defects than boys

> conceived during other times of the year and born in counties with low

wheat

> production, the study concluded.

>

> Death rates from birth defects among male infants in high-wheat counties

> also were more than twice the rates of low-wheat counties, the study

found.

>

> Schreinemachers said Thursday the disparity between male and female

infants

> was not clear.

>

> She said her study does not make a direct link between birth defects and

use

> of the chemicals. It also did not determine whether the children with

birth

> defects were born to parents who had direct contact with the herbicides.

But

> the study strongly suggests that more research is needed, she said.

>

> " We do not know how much of these herbicides was used in those particular

> counties, for instance " she said. " But we know that according to the USDA,

> these herbicides are used most often on spring and durum wheat. "

>

> A spokeswoman for CropLife America, the trade group for agriculture

chemical

> makers, did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment on the

> study.

>

> The findings are similar to conclusions contained in a 1996 study by Dr.

> Vincent Garry of the University of Minnesota.

>

> His study of births in Minnesota between 1989 and 1992 found a higher rate

> of birth defects in western Minnesota, where chlorophenoxy herbicides are

> applied to wheat. That study, however, also implicated certain fungicides

as

> a possible cause.

>

> Chlorophenoxy herbicides are widely used to control weeds in grain

farming.

> In the four wheat-producing states included in Schreinemachers' study,

more

> than 85 percent of the wheat acreage was treated with herbicides such as

> 2,4-D and 4-chloro-2-methylphenoxyacetic acid, or MCPA, the study said.

>

> Dr. Michael Spence, Montana's state medical officer, said he was aware of

> Schreinemachers' study, but had not reviewed it yet. However, he said the

> findings were not a surprise, since the herbicides have been linked to

other

> health problems in previous studies.

>

> An ongoing study funded jointly by the National Cancer Institute, National

> Institute of Environmental Health and the EPA is tracking 90,000 herbicide

> applicators and their spouses to look for possible health effects of

> pesticides.

>

>