[Pathological and embryological studies on abortion cases related to the Seveso accident]

After the explosion accident on July 10, 1976 in Seveso (Italy), material from 30 interrupted pregnancies and from 4 spontaneous abortions was investigated by embryological and histomorphological studies. No indications of mutagenic, teratogenic or fetotoxic effects of TCDD could be found. The cases of spontaneous abortion, albeit more suspect for dioxin damage, showed different morphological alterations obviously due to a variety of causative factors independent of TCDD. On the other hand it is not possible to exclude entirely an embryotoxic effect of TCDD because in the majority of cases the fetal tissues were incomplete.