Does exposure to landfill waste harm the fetus?

摘要

In this issue Elliott and colleagues report on the risks to fetuses associated with residence near landfill sites: they compared pregnancy outcomes among British women living within 2 km of any of 9565 landfill sites operational between 1982 and 1997 with outcomes among those who lived at least 2 km away from all known sites (the reference area). They found excess risks for some adverse pregnancy outcomes, a finding consistent with previous literature, but a clear pattern of excess did not emerge and the excesses were small enough (generally less than 10%) that they could be due to study bias, a problem that is difficult to rule out in this type of study. Therefore, the question whether these results represent a causal connection between residential exposures to landfill and adverse outcomes is unresolved.