Solvents in water related to risk of birth defects? Maybe.
Aschengrau, A, JM Weinberg, PA Janulewicz, LG Gallagher, MR Winter, VM Vieira, TF Webster and DM Ozonoff. 2009. Prenatal exposure to tetrachloroethylene-contaminated drinking water and the risk of congenital anomalies: a retrospective cohort study. Environmental Health 8:44.
A study conducted in Massachusetts suggests that exposure to a solvent through drinking water may be associated with an increased risk for certain congenital anomalies, but the results are not entirely conclusive.
The solvent, named perchloroethylene or PCE (and sometimes named tetrachloroethylene), is used by the textile industry and is a component of aerosol dry cleaning products. In 1980, New England government officials discovered that PCE was leaching from the inner lining of certain public water supply pipes. The lining had been introduced in the 1960s to solve taste and odor problems in some parts of the water distribution system.
Researchers found that women whose estimated PCE exposure was higher may have a 50 percent increased risk of birth defects. Women ever exposed to PCE also had a 3-fold increased risk of giving birth to babies with neural tube defects or oral clefts relative to unexposed women.
It is however important to note that these results may be due to chance because a small number of congenital anomalies were observed in this population.
PCE's primary health concerns are based on its potential to increase cancer risk. However, animal studies suggest that PCE – along with the closely related solvent trichloroethylene (TCE) and their breakdown product trichloroacetic acid (TCA) – may increase the risk of heart, muscular/skeletal and nervous system malformations.
Women participating in the study were exposed to high levels of PCE. One in 10 women drank water with PCE concentrations of more than 8 times the limit considered safe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The researchers estimated PCE exposure using sophisticated modeling software. They took into account the amount of tap water consumed by women and the characteristics of the pipes that deliver water to their homes. Information on congenital anomalies was collected by administering questionnaires to mothers.
