Gold9472
03-12-2006, 05:29 PM
AGONY OF 9/11 TOXIC TOTS
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/65149.htm
(Gold9472: The gift that keeps on giving. Too bad Dubya didn't give us the receipt so we could return it.)
By SUSAN EDELMAN
March 12, 2006 -- EXCLUSIVE
Babies born to women living near the World Trade Center who were pregnant on 9/11 suffered more genetic damage than other city infants - and could be at higher risk for cancer later in life, New York researchers say.
About half the babies born to 329 nonsmoking women living close to Ground Zero had DNA with significant levels of combustion-related toxins, "which have the potential to damage development and increase risk of cancer," a lead investigator told The Post.
"The chemical pollutants crossed the placenta and bound to the DNA, leaving their fingerprint of exposure," said Dr. Frederica Perera, director of Columbia University's Center for Children's Environmental Health.
"This is a signal of genetic damage from exposure to these contaminants."
The dangerous polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, were found in umbilical-cord blood obtained when the women gave birth at four lower Manhattan hospitals, Perera said.
These WTC babies showed "slightly more" genetic damage from PAHs than a control group of 730 infants born in upper Manhattan and The Bronx, the study found.
While the DNA damage does not ensure that kids will become sick, develop cancer or have learning problems, Perera said, "It does raise possible concerns about later developmental or health effects."
Genetic damage from PAHs has been linked in other research to a higher risk of cancer in adulthood, especially among cigarette smokers.
If not repaired by enzyme systems in the body, the harm "can be locked in - in the form of a mutation," Perera said.
The WTC babies were born to women, pregnant on 9/11, who lived downtown or gave birth there.
The WTC babies also weighed less and had smaller head sizes at birth, characteristics found in other babies born to mothers exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke, a previous study found.
PAHs are found in urban air from traffic and heating sources, but the WTC fires burned about four months, releasing tons of smoldering chemicals into the air.
Scientists from the University of North Carolina and the EPA who monitored PAHs at Ground Zero from Sept. 23, 2001, to March 27, 2002, found levels up to 65 times higher than normal.
The Columbia team is tracking the health and growth of the 329 WTC kids, now about 4 years old, testing them each year and comparing them to the about 730 children in the upper-Manhattan and Bronx control group.
The team has not made any conclusions about their development, Perera said.
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/65149.htm
(Gold9472: The gift that keeps on giving. Too bad Dubya didn't give us the receipt so we could return it.)
By SUSAN EDELMAN
March 12, 2006 -- EXCLUSIVE
Babies born to women living near the World Trade Center who were pregnant on 9/11 suffered more genetic damage than other city infants - and could be at higher risk for cancer later in life, New York researchers say.
About half the babies born to 329 nonsmoking women living close to Ground Zero had DNA with significant levels of combustion-related toxins, "which have the potential to damage development and increase risk of cancer," a lead investigator told The Post.
"The chemical pollutants crossed the placenta and bound to the DNA, leaving their fingerprint of exposure," said Dr. Frederica Perera, director of Columbia University's Center for Children's Environmental Health.
"This is a signal of genetic damage from exposure to these contaminants."
The dangerous polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, were found in umbilical-cord blood obtained when the women gave birth at four lower Manhattan hospitals, Perera said.
These WTC babies showed "slightly more" genetic damage from PAHs than a control group of 730 infants born in upper Manhattan and The Bronx, the study found.
While the DNA damage does not ensure that kids will become sick, develop cancer or have learning problems, Perera said, "It does raise possible concerns about later developmental or health effects."
Genetic damage from PAHs has been linked in other research to a higher risk of cancer in adulthood, especially among cigarette smokers.
If not repaired by enzyme systems in the body, the harm "can be locked in - in the form of a mutation," Perera said.
The WTC babies were born to women, pregnant on 9/11, who lived downtown or gave birth there.
The WTC babies also weighed less and had smaller head sizes at birth, characteristics found in other babies born to mothers exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke, a previous study found.
PAHs are found in urban air from traffic and heating sources, but the WTC fires burned about four months, releasing tons of smoldering chemicals into the air.
Scientists from the University of North Carolina and the EPA who monitored PAHs at Ground Zero from Sept. 23, 2001, to March 27, 2002, found levels up to 65 times higher than normal.
The Columbia team is tracking the health and growth of the 329 WTC kids, now about 4 years old, testing them each year and comparing them to the about 730 children in the upper-Manhattan and Bronx control group.
The team has not made any conclusions about their development, Perera said.