Research links rise in Falluja birth defects and cancers to US assault (confirms earlier estimates)

[Turborama]

Source: The Guardian

Martin Chulov | Thursday December 30 2010 21.34 GMT -

A study examining the causes of a dramatic spike in birth defects in the Iraqi city of Falluja has for the first time concluded that genetic damage could have been caused by weaponry used in US assaults that took place six years ago.

The research, which will be published next week, confirms earlier estimates revealed by the Guardian of a major, unexplained rise in cancers and chronic neural-tube, cardiac and skeletal defects in newborns. The authors found that malformations are close to 11 times higher than normal rates, and rose to unprecedented levels in the first half of this year – a period that had not been surveyed in earlier reports.

The findings, which will be published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, come prior to a much-anticipated World Health Organisation study of Falluja's genetic health. They follow two alarming earlier studies, one of which found a distortion in the sex ratio of newborns since the invasion of Iraq in 2003 – a 15% drop in births of boys.

"We suspect that the population is chronically exposed to an environmental agent," said one of the report's authors, environmental toxicologist Mozhgan Savabieasfahani. "We don't know what that environmental factor is, but we are doing more tests to find out."

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/30/faulluja-birth-defects-iraq

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The earlier Guardian article on this posted in LBN last year: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4145904