TCE in Camp Lejeune Drinking Water Linked to Higher Neural Tube Defects

Pregnant women at Camp Lejeune, N.C., who gave birth between 1968 and 1985 were at increased risk of having a child with a spine, brain, or spinal cord birth defect, a recent government study found.

The study by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry found an association between women in their first trimester’s exposure to trichloroethylene (TCE) and benzene and having a child with a neural tube defect.

From the 1950s to 1985, the drinking water at Camp Lejeune Marine Corps base was contaminated by volatile organic compounds such as TCE and benzene, as well as tetrachloroethylene (PCE), ...