Birth Defects

A Chinese research group has produced research that appears to confirm what seems painfully obvious if you have ever lived in Beijing during the winter - environmental pollutants like coal smoke and pesticides can directly lead to birth defects. Reuters (via trust.org) reports:

The researchers studied 80 newborn babies and aborted fetuses with brain and spinal cord defects and found that their mothers' placentas had significantly higher amounts of chemicals compared to placentas of babies without such birth defects.

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