LETTER

Adverse pregnancy outcomes around incinerators and crematoriums

E F Duffell¹, M J Nicholls¹, J Spiby¹, N Herriott¹

¹ Health Protection Agency, Division of Chemical Hazards and Poisons (London), Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital NHS Trust, London, UK

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr E F Duffell
Health Protection Agency, Division of Chemical Hazards and Poisons (London), Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital NHS Trust, Avonley Road, London SE14 5ER, UK; erikaduffell@hotmail.com

Keywords: crematoriums; incinerators; pregnancy

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Dummer and colleagues, research provides an important step towards establishing the evidence base around the adverse pregnancy outcomes associated with incinerators and crematoriums.¹ Investigating the possible adverse health effects from environmental hazards is a public health challenge that demands the use of systematic and reproducible research methods. We have some concerns regarding the study described by Dummer and colleagues.

The study focuses on selected "fatal" pregnancy outcomes. One key concern is that this excludes miscarriages, abortions, and non-lethal congenital anomalies. Excluding these outcomes may misrepresent and underestimate any possible association between the exposures under consideration and "pregnancy outcomes". Indeed, it is possible that the "fatal" pregnancy outcomes considered by the researchers may actually be inappropriate in relation to the chemicals released from incinerators and crematoriums. Studies on exposure to lead, for example, indicate that the most likely pregnancy related outcomes associated with high exposure are low birth weight, spontaneous abortion, . . . [Full text of this article]

L Parker², T J B Dummer³, H O Dickinson⁴

² Paediatric and Lifecourse Epidemiology Group, School of Clinical Medical Sciences, University of Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4LP, UK
³ School of Social Science, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK
⁴ School of Population and Health Sciences, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Professor L Parker;
Louise.parker@ncl.ac.uk

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