Volatile organic compounds in drinking water and adverse pregnancy outcomes. United States Marine Corps Base, Camp Lejeune, NC
In 1995, the agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry began data collection for a study of environmental exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in drinking water and adverse pregnancy outcomes at the U.S. Marine Corps Base at Camp LeJeune, NC. This report describes a study of past exposure to VOC contaminated drinking water and "mean birth weight" (MBW), "small for gestational age" (SGA), and preterm births in residents of base family housing during January 1, 1968, through December 31, 1985. Birth certificates were studied from 6,117 women exposed to tetrachloroethylene (PCE), 141 women with short-term exposure to
trichloroethylene (TCE), and 5,681 women who were unexposed. Preterm delivery was not associated with VOC exposure in any category. For most live births, there was no association between PCE-contaminated drinking water and MEW or SGA. In mothers with two or more fetal deaths, the differences in MBW and SGA between PCE-exposed and unexposed mothers were much larger, but the number of births to women in this group was fairly small.