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Article: Child defects 'higher near landfill sites'
- Article from:
- Evening News - Scotland
- Article date:
- August 16, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2001 Evening News - Scotland. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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AN increased rate of birth defects has been found in children
born near landfill sites, a study revealed today.
The Government-commissioned study, which was part-funded by the
Scottish Executive, found one per cent more cases of "congenital
anomalies" in populations living within two kilometres of normal
sites and seven per cent more in people living near sites with
hazardous waste.
Low birth-weight babies were also five per cent more common among
families living near the sites.
Risk
The new research is the first to suggest a risk from landfill
sites which do not take hazardous waste.
There are about 300 licensed landfill sites in Scotland, taking
about 12 million tonnes of rubbish a ...