Adverse Health Effects for Mothers and Their Unborn Children
Between 1953 and 1987, two of the eight water treatment systems that provided most of the potable water to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina were contaminated with industrial solvents and chemicals known as volatile organic compounds.
These chemicals included trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE), as well as benzene. Vinyl chloride, found in the water, was a byproduct of chemical breakdown. Prenatal exposure to these contaminants has been linked to an increased risk for miscarriages, stillbirths, and female infertility.
Baby Heaven
In his 2014 book, “A Trust Betrayed: The Untold Story of Camp Lejeune and the Poisoning of Generations of Marines and Their Families”, Mike Magner wrote of a tragic and puzzling rash of miscarriages, stillbirths, and infant deaths among Camp Lejeune families, especially during the 1960s and 1970s.
The losses were so great that cemetery in Jacksonville, North Carolina near the base had a section referred by the military community as “Baby Heaven”. Magner wrote that many of the headstones in the section were marked by days and weeks instead of years.
Congenital Defects Possibly Linked to TCE and PCE
The Agency of Toxic Substances and Disease Registry reports that some human studies show a possible link between prenatal exposure to trichloroethylene and perchloroethylene (tetrachloroethylene) and various adverse effects.
Based on observational studies and case studies, the ATSDR notes various congenital defects and other complications that may be linked to the chemicals. These include:
- Chonal atresia: A rare condition where nasal passages are blocked with bone or tissue
- Eye defects
- Low birth weight or small for gestational age
- Major malformations
- Neural tube defects
- Oral cleft defects, including cleft lip
- Neurological effects: Delayed reaction times, problems with short-term memory, visual perception, attention, and/or color vision
- Neurobehavioral performance deficits: Delayed recall and deficits in visual perception, decreased blink reflex, mood effects (confusion, depression, tension)
- Severe generalized hypersensitivity skin disorder: An autoimmune-related disease
- Miscarriage
- Fetal death
TCE and Heart Defects
Once trichloroethylene enters the bloodstream of a pregnant mother, it can cross the placental barrier to expose the developing fetus.
If the fetus is exposed in utero during the first two to eight weeks of pregnancy when the heart is developing, the risk of a congenital cardiac defect increases. According to the ATSDR, some studies have indicated that this risk may double from 1 in 100 born with congenital heart defects to 2 in 100.
PCE, Infertility, and Pregnancy Loss
n March 2020, the journal Environmental Sci Process Impacts published Reproductive and developmental health effects of prenatal exposure to tetrachloroethylene-contaminated drinking water, a review of two community-based epidemiological studies of the effects of PCE-contaminated drinking water from vinyl-lined pipes in Massachusetts and Rhode Island from the late 1960s through 1980.
The review looked at exposure to tetrachloroethylene (perchloroethylene) and time-to-pregnancy (number of months to conception), which is a measure of fertility. The studies showed that prenatal exposure to PCE-contaminated drinking water was associated with delayed time-to-pregnancy.
Exposure was also associated with an increased risk of placental abruption, a serious pregnancy complication in which the placenta partially or completely separates from the wall of the uterus before delivery. Placental abruption can decrease or block the baby’s supply of oxygen and nutrients. Left untreated, the condition can be dangerous to the fetus and the mother.
Boston University School of Public Health Study
A 2018 study led by the School of Public Health at Boston University that was published in “Environmental Health” found that expectant mothers who drank water contaminated with PCE were almost twice as likely to experience a stillbirth due to placental abruption or insufficiency.