Chlorinated tap water may cause birth defects

SATURDAY June 7, 2008 (foodconsumer.org) -- A new study in BioMed Central's open access journal Environmental Health suggests that pregnant women using tap water disinfected by chlorine are at higher risk of having children with heart problems, cleft palate, or major brain defects.

SATURDAY June 7, 2008 (foodconsumer.org) -- A new study in BioMed Central's open access journal Environmental Health suggests that pregnant women using tap water disinfected by chlorine are at higher risk of having children with heart problems, cleft palate, or major brain defects.

The study found pregnant women exposed to tap water with total trihalomethanes, byproducts of chlorination, above 20 ìg/L were at a 50 to 100 percent increased risk as compared to those who were exposed to levels below 5 ìg/L.

For the study, Jouni Jaakkola from the University of Birmingham, UK, and colleagues collected data for nearly 40,000 infants in Taiwan participating in previous studies and found the link between by-products of water chlorination and three specific birth defects.

Of 11 common birth defects considered in the study, ventricular septal defects (holes in the heart), cleft palate, and anencephalus (where neural development fails, resulting in the absence of a major portion of the brain, skull, and scalp) were the three defects that were associated with exposure to high levels of chlorination by-products during pregnancy.

"The biological mechanism for how these disinfection by-products may cause defects are still unknown," said Jaakkola. "However, our findings don't just add to the evidence that water chlorination may cause birth defects, but suggest that exposure to chlorination by-products may be responsible some specific and common defects.

By David Liu, Ph.D., and edited by Heather Kelley.
Jun 7, 2008 - 12:30:13 PM