Study on Naples’ birth defect rate released

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Study on Naples’ birth defect rate released
By Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, February 28, 2009

NAPLES, Italy — A five-year review of children born to U.S. military personnel who had lived in Naples concluded that the birth defect rate is lower than the overall Navy rate, but higher than the rate in other Navy overseas locations.

Naples’ birth defect rate was 3.13 per 100 births. That’s higher than the rate of 2.35 per 100 births for other Navy overseas sites, yet lower than the Navy’s overall rate of 3.6 per 100 births, according to the records review conducted by the Naval Health Research Center in San Diego.

"Overall, these analyses do not suggest a statistically significant increase in the birth defect rate of infants who gestate in the first trimester of their development in the Naples area compared to infants who gestate in the first trimester of their development in other overseas Navy areas," reads a portion of the four-page report. "Although reassuring, additional surveillance in the region should continue in order to further evaluate the effect of specific exposures potentially influenced by the trash situation such as air and water."

For decades, the Campania region has experienced numerous environmental crises spurred by inadequate trash collection, burning of trash in the streets and reports of illegal hazardous waste disposal. Health concerns prompted the Navy to launch a multimillion-dollar health assessment one year ago to determine if living in Naples poses a health hazard. Those concerns have been amplified by "recent studies conducted by the Italian government appear to suggest an increased risk of cancer and birth defects among their citizens in this area of Italy," states the Navy’s birth defect review that was released Friday.

The review did not seek to determine whether living in Naples caused children to be born with birth defects. Instead, the study was designed to answer one question: "Was the risk of a birth defect in children who were conceived while the mothers were enrolled in Naples significantly different from children born to mothers who were enrolled in other overseas facilities," Dr. (Cmdr.) Timothy Halenkamp, occupational and environmental medicine specialist in Naples, wrote in the executive summary.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=61028