Study links birth defects to organic solvents

Abstract

Women exposed at work to organic solvents during the first trimester of pregnancy are 13 times more likely to give birth to a baby with major defects, a new study reports [ J. Am. Med. Soc. , 281 , 1106 (1999) ]. The exposed women were also more likely to have miscarriages and give birth to premature babies and babies with low birth weight and fetal distress. This was the first prospective study specifically designed to measure the relationship between solvent exposure and infant malformations, says lead researcher Sohail Khattak, a pediatrician and clinical pharmacologist at the Hospital for Sick Children and the University of Toronto. The solvents to which the women were exposed included aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons, phenols, trichloroethylene, xylene, vinyl chloride, and acetone, all of which are teratogenic in high–dose animal studies, Khattak says. The study involved 125 pregnant women who were exposed to solvents on the job and 125 unexposed women. Each exposed woman ...