Birth defects

Exposure to alcohol is a known cause of birth defects

May 26, 2009 -- The number of women who drink alcohol while pregnant is not decreasing, according to a 15 year-study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Approximately 1 in 8 women drank any amount of alcohol while pregnant, the study says.

The drinking patterns persisted despite repeated warnings from surgeons general about the dangers of drinking alcohol while pregnant. The surgeons general have told pregnant women, and women who may become pregnant to abstain from alcohol consumption in order to eliminate the chance of giving birth to a baby with alcohol related birth defects.    » read more »

05 November 2007 -- A Chinese government report says the number of birth defects in the country has risen by almost forty percent since 2001. Officials are linking the rise to China's worsening environmental degradation, as Claudia Blume reports from Hong Kong.

China's national population and family planning commission says that out of the 20 million babies born in the country each year, up to 1.2 million are born with defects.

This marks a dramatic rise in the number of birth defects in the past few years.    » read more »