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Agricultural Compounds in Water and Birth Defects
Jean D Brender1, Peter J Weyer2
1Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Texas A&M Health Science Center, 212 Adriance Lab Rd, TAMU MS 1266, College Station, TX, 77843, USA. jdbrender@sph.tamhsc.edu.
Current Environmental Health Reports
|March 24, 2016
Summary
Agricultural compounds in drinking water, like nitrate and atrazine, are linked to birth defects. Further research is needed on the effects of these chemical mixtures during pregnancy.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Health
- Toxicology
- Reproductive Health
Background:
- Agricultural compounds are frequently found in drinking water sources.
- Some agricultural contaminants, including nitrate, atrazine, and arsenic, are known teratogens in animal studies.
- Prenatal exposure to drinking water contaminants is a growing public health concern.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the association between common agricultural compounds in drinking water and birth defects.
- To highlight the specific risks linked to nitrate, atrazine, and arsenic exposure during pregnancy.
- To emphasize the need for research on the combined effects of contaminant mixtures.
Main Methods:
- Review of case-control studies published since 2000.
- Analysis of associations between maternal exposure to specific agricultural compounds and infant outcomes.
- Identification of commonly detected contaminants in drinking water.
Main Results:
- Higher nitrate concentrations in drinking water were associated with neural tube defects, oral clefts, and limb deficiencies.
- Atrazine exposure was linked to abdominal defects and gastroschisis.
- Arsenic contamination in drinking water has also been associated with an increased risk of birth defects.
Conclusions:
- Prenatal exposure to agricultural compounds like nitrate and atrazine via drinking water poses a risk for birth defects.
- The presence of these contaminants, often as mixtures, necessitates further investigation into their synergistic or combined teratogenic effects.
- Public health strategies should consider monitoring and mitigating agricultural chemical contamination in drinking water.
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