Babies who are exposed before birth to ethyl benezene, a toxic component in crude oil, may have a higher risk of developing congenital heart disease (CHD), US researches said.
Another chemical used as an industrial metal degreasing agent, trichloroethylene (TCE) also boosted heart risks, said the research to be presented at the Paediatric Academic Societies annual meeting in Denver Colorado.
“Congenital heart disease (which occurs when the heart is malformed before birth) is a major cause of childhood death and life-long health problems,” said D. Gail McCarver, lead author of the study and pediatrics professor at Wisconsin’s Medical College.
Previous studies suggested it could be caused by chemicals in the environment. Researches collected stool samples from 135 newborn babies with the heart condition and 432 infants without it.
A full 82% of all the infants showed exposure to at lesat one of the 17 solvents measured in the study. While infants who showed exposure to ethyl benzene had four times the risk of CHD. Black infants exposed to TCE showed an eight-fold risk for the heart condition, and white infants with the traces in their stool had a two-fold higher risk, said the finding.
“This is the first report that exposure to ethyl benzene was associated with CHD,” McCarver said. Some residents of the US Gulf Coast have expressed concern about their health in the aftermath of the BP oil spill last year, though no studies have been completed yet to determine the effects of exposure to the spilled oil.
Other sources of ethyl benzene include vehicle exhaust, petrol pump vapours and cigratte smoke.
Source: AFP
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