Contaminated Drinking Water Linked to Birth Defects

Perchloroethylene (PCE) is a solvent that can leach into public drinking water supplies from the inner vinyl lining of water pipes commonly installed in the 1970s and 1980s.  Ann Aschengrau, from Boston University (Massachusetts, USA), and colleagues conducted a study involving 1,658 children whose mothers were exposed to PCE-contaminated drinking water. The researchers found that children whose mothers had the highest exposure levels around the time of conception had a 50% increased risk of congenital anomalies.  Exposure was associated with an increased risk of neural tube defects and oral clefts, as well as modest increases in genitourinary defects and gastrointestinal defects.  The team concludes that: “The results of this study suggest that the risk of certain congenital anomalies is increased among the offspring of women who were exposed to PCE-contaminated drinking water around the time of conception.”