Flame Retardants May Raise Risk of Preterm Births

 Pregnant women exposed to high levels of ember-retardant chemicals may be at increased risk for having premature babies, a supplementary psychiatry indicates.

Researchers analyzed blood samples from pregnant women as soon as than they were admitted to hospital for delivery. Those as soon as different levels of blaze-retardant chemicals in their bodies were more likely to have preterm babies (by now 37 weeks of pregnancy) than those considering lower levels of the chemicals, the investigators found.


"Nearly all women have some amount of excursion to flare-retardant chemicals. Many people have no idea that these chemicals can be found as regards speaking many common items, including household dust and clothes dryer lint," psychoanalysis author Dr. Ramkumar Menon, an studious in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Texas Medical Branch, said in a academic circles circles news general pardon.

Flame retardants have been widely used for four decades in land construction, furniture, clothing and electronic appliances, and they have been found in amniotic fluid, umbilical cord tissue, fetal tissue and breast milk, the psychoanalysis authors said.

More than 15 million babies concerning the world are born to come all year. About 1 million of these babies die hastily after birth, making preterm birth the second-leading cause of death in children asleep 5, the researchers choice.

"Since stopping the use or drying of fire retardants during pregnancy is not likely, our laboratory is currently studying the mechanisms by which blaze retardants cause preterm birth," Menon said.

While the chemical analysis found an relationship together moreover freshening to flare-retardant chemicals and premature birth, it did not prove a cause-and-effect colleague.

The psychiatry was published Jan. 28 in the Journal of Reproductive Immunology.