'Bizarre' Cluster of Severe Birth Defects Haunts Health Experts

NBC News ^ | 2-17-14 | Jonel Aleccia

[afraidfortherepublic]

A mysterious cluster of severe birth defects in rural Washington state is confounding health experts, who say they can find no cause, even as reports of new cases continue to climb.

Federal and state officials won’t say how many women in a three-county area near Yakima, Wash., have had babies with anencephaly, a heart-breaking condition in which they’re born missing parts of the brain or skull. And they admit they haven't interviewed any of the women in question, or told the mothers there's a potentially widespread problem.

But as of January 2013, officials with the Washington state health department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had counted nearly two dozen cases in three years, a rate four times the national average.

Since then, one local genetic counselor, Susie Ball of the Central Washington Genetics Program at Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital, says she has reported “eight or nine” additional cases of anencephaly and spina bifida, another birth defect in which the neural tube, which forms the brain and spine, fails to close properly.

“It does strike me as a lot,” says Ball.

And at least one Yakima mother whose baby is part of the cluster says no one told her there was a problem at all.

“I had no idea,” said Andrea Jackman, 30, whose blue-eyed daughter, Olivia, was born in September with the most severe form of spina bifida. “I honestly was really surprised that nobody had said anything. If my doctor hadn’t wanted us to see the geneticist, I wouldn’t have known.”

[afraidfortherepublic]

Prosser? Isn't there a big nuclear facility there? A facility that has faced years of complaints and lawsuits? Any ation?

[logi_cal869]

I saw that and read it. I debated posting for reasons on which I won’t elaborate.

For what it’s worth...

Yakima is 35 miles as-the-east-wind-blows from the Hanford Reservation.

[Gamecock]

Most obvious question: How many branches are on the family tree?

[logi_cal869]

...and since it wasn’t me that posted it:

http://times.org/2013/12/18/the-long-tragic-trail/

http://www.hanford.gov/c.cfm/sgrp/GWRep10/html/gw10_13_0.pdf

[afraidfortherepublic]

I knew someone who had a daughter with Spina Bifada, and there was absolutely nothing in the genetic history of either parent. Sometimes these defects just appear.

[wolfman]

Fukushima

[Gamecock]

Of course they do.

But when there is a spike 4x above what is expected something is going on.

Rule out the easy questions first.

[texas booster]

I remember an outbreak of anencephaly in the Rio Grande Valley in the 70’s or 80’s.

Traced to an outbreak of a corn mold in grain used for masa.

Treated by increasing folic acid in prenatal care, and tighter controls on corn meal.

[afraidfortherepublic]

And I’d look at the environmental influences hard. That is why the doctors are sending these parents to geneticists — to rule that out.

[Revel]

Well the name of the town sounds almost Japanese. Just saying.

[hinckley buzzard]

It has been advised for at least twenty years that pregnant women take folic acid to insure against these neural tube defects. It is rather specific.

[AnAmericanAbroad]

Very true. A spike four times normal is highly unusual. It very well could be some kind of environmental factors, something in the water, etc.

[EQAndyBuzz]

“Fukushima”

I’m going with environmental. I would start with seafood distributors. Fish is low calorie, moderate fat, high in protein. Great food for mom to be.

How old are the children and does Fukushima apply here?

[EQAndyBuzz]

“Fukushima”

I’m going with environmental. I would start with seafood distributors. Fish is low calorie, moderate fat, high in protein. Great food for mom to be.

How old are the children and does Fukushima apply here?

[longfellowsmuse]

Neural tube defects are also associated with a lack of folate in the diet, I would first look at regional dietary habits which may not sound as sensational as nuclear fallout but would be the “easy question.”

[JudyinCanada]

First thing I thought. The beginnings of the after-effects of this disaster.

[peeps36]

I'm not familiar with this area but I wonder if there are illegal pot farms around there? The illegal farms use tons of pesticides to grow their weed. The growers don't give a damn about polluting rivers, lakes and ground water with their poison.

[Gamecock]

Certainly.

That requires a bit more technology and time. Look for the easy stuff first.

[logi_cal869]

...something in the water...

...or the air... Most people look at a map and think the wind in Washington State blows a west wind (to the east); that is seasonal & subject to pressure ridges, mostly due to the Rockies.

Frequently, an east wind blows to the west in this area, almost akin to the ubiquitous Santa Ana winds in CA. The Columbia Gorge was hit with this pretty hard the past few weeks.

Published in 1972 by Dr. Ernest J. Sternglass:

It was not our physics and technology that had been inadequate, but our knowledge of biological systems and their enormous ability to concentrate toxic agents. Just as in the case of DDT, it was not the amount distributed throughout the environment that was so serious. It was the selective concentration in the food chain and then in the newly forming organs of the rapidly developing young embryo. Since all higher animals, including man, must pass through this critically sensitive phase, it was clear that, unless the problem was widely recognized and acted upon, man could extinguish himself and all other animals, not through the effect of radiation on the adult, but through the effect on the weakest link in the chain of life -- the unborn and the very young.

(disclaimer: I am not anti-nuke, just anti-stupid. Thorium? The anti-coal regulations of this administration will place more burden on our dated nuclear infrastructure. Roll the dice...)

[zlala]

I had 2 babies (in the 80’s) in Sunnyside, closer to Hanford than Yakima - they were and are just fine. My two daughters have had a total of 4 children born at Yakima Memorial Hospital (within a 10 yr period). All four were and are fine. However, in the past 10 yrs I've had 5-6 friends die of cancer. All lived in Selah (bedroom community to Yakima). Is that related to the pesticides used in agriculture? Who knows, could be from the ash fall from Mt St Helens. But unless long-term studies are done, it may never be known if there is a link.