BABIES born to women living near Britain’s waste dumps are slightly more
likely to have birth defects, a government-funded study revealed last week. But
though this was the biggest survey of its kind, the researchers warn that the
results are not conclusive.
Paul Elliott and his team at Imperial College, London, looked at over 9500
landfill sites, some of which handle hazardous waste. They found an overall
increase of 1 per cent in the incidence of birth defects in babies born to
mothers living nearby. Rates of spina bifida were 5 per cent higher than normal
but, strangely, the incidence…
