The common air pollutant benzene has been the subject of a recent study in Texas. It seems that women who live in Texas neighborhoods that have higher levels of benzene due to refineries and automobile exhaust have been found to have a higher chance of giving birth to babies with a serious neurological birth defect.
Benzene has long been known to be highly toxic and related to cancer and immune system damage. This new study performed by a team of researchers from the University of Texas School of Public Health and the Texas Department of State Health Services has linked benzene for the first time to a birth defect that proves in more than one way that air pollution can cause harm to a fetus.
The results of this study show that pregnant women exposed to high levels of benzene had up to a two times greater risk of giving birth to a child with spina bifida. Spina bifida is a condition in which a piece of the spinal cord protrudes from the spinal column. This condition often causes paralysis of all or part of the lower body, water on the brain, learning disabilities and depression.
While this study shows that benzene is related to the birth defect spina bifida, the condition is actually quite rare and the absolute risk of occurrence is very small. The researchers performing the study also looked at other air pollutants including toulene, ethyl benzene and xylene and found that they do not present a significant statistical tie between those pollutants and birth defects.
