Basra

Is coalition bombing behind a 17-fold increase in birth defects in an Iraqi city?

lborkowski | October 22, 2012

In just eight years, the incidence of congenital birth defects in Iraq's Al Basrah Maternity Hospital increased 17-fold, a new study reports. An earlier study found the incidence of birth defects at that hospital to be 1.37 per 1,000 live births between October 1994 and 1995 (out of more than 10,000 births total); in 2003, the rate had jumped to 23 per 1,000 live births. The authors also report that, in an analysis of hair samples from 44 Fallujah children with birth defects -- the most common being congenital heart, neural tube, and facial clefting defects -- and 10 Fallujah children without…