Chemicals Linked To Low Birth Weight

June 25, 2009 by tanya
Filed under: Baby Health, News

New research shows that there may be a link between the chemicals used in plastics and low birth weight in babies.

Phthalates is a chemical compound commonly used to make hard plastics soft and more flexible.

The study found that over 70 percent of the babies they researched had high levels of the chemical in the cord blood and first stools.

Phthalates are found in many day to day items, including shampoos, toys, and food packaging.

Higher levels of the compound were found in newborns with a low birth weight. Low birth weight is the leading cause of mortality in children under 5 years-old. It has also been linked with Cardiovascular and other diseases later in life.

Dr. Renshan Ge from the international Populations Council, who led the study, said “The results showed that phthalate exposure was ubiquitous in these newborns, and that prenatal phthalate exposure might be an environmental risk factor for low birth weight in infants,”

Researchers studied 201 babies and their mothers over three years, 88 of the babies had low birth weight. The findings will be published in the next issue of The Journal of Pediatrics.

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