Birth defect risks rise close to incinerators
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Women living near incinerators have a higher risk of having a baby with spina bifida or a heart defect, research released yesterday said. It also found an increased risk of stillbirths among women who lived close to a crematorium.
The researchers, who were led by Professor Louise Parker of Newcastle University and who published their findings in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, stressed that they did not find conclusive evidence that living near an incinerator or crematorium caused birth defects or stillbirths.
But they said the issue should be investigated further, especially as incineration was becoming a widely used method of waste disposal.
The research analysed births in Cumbria between 1956 and 1993. There were almost 245,000 births, of which 3,234 were stillborn and 1,569 had congenital abnormalities.
The risk of neural tube defects, particularly spina bifida, for babies of women who lived near incinerators was 17 per cent higher, and heart defects 12 per cent higher. For women who lived near a crematorium, the risk of stillbirth was 4 per cent higher and the chance of the baby having a brain abnormality known as anencephalus was 5 per cent higher.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments