Mountaintop Removal Mining Birth Defects: New Study Suggests Controversial Coal Operations Linked To

[cory777]

Source: Huffington Post

Researchers found "significantly higher" rates of birth defects in babies born near mountaintop removal mining sites than those in non-mining areas, according to a new study released last week.

Mountaintop removal mining is a particularly environmentally destructive type of resource extraction that involves using explosives to blow the tops off of mountains to expose coal underneath the soil and rock. The unusable dirt and gravel are then disposed of in adjacent valleys and streams. MTR is used prominently in the Appalachian region of the eastern United States.

The mining study, published in the journal Environmental Research, examined over 1.8 million live birth records from 1996 to 2003 using National Center for Health Statistics data from the central Appalachian states of West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee.

It found that rates for six out of seven types of birth defects -- circulatory/respiratory, central nervous system, musculoskeletal, gastrointestinal, urogenital and "other" -- were increased near MTR sites. The research suggests that contaminants are released into nearby environments from MTR, and that many of the contaminants are known to impair fetal development.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/27/mountaintop-removal-coal-mining-birth-defects_n_885172.html

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[KT2000]

1. Corporations are free to maim

and kill and remain free of liability and any obligations. Now they have the nerve to insist on further deregulation and cutting care for the very people they have harmed.
Just watch - ATSDR will send a team into the area to further exonerate the corporations - they always do.

[defendandprotect]

2. Capitalism exploits nature and humans -- let's bury it -- !!

[alp227]

3. So where are Randall Terry, Lila Rose, the pro-life activists?

Oh wait, corporations and fetuses are people. But women? Babies in poor/environmentally damaged areas? Meh

[theHandpuppet]

4. Yep.

The hypocrisy astounds.

[JJW]

5. Send those corporate personhoods to jail

No reason CEOs and top managers shouldn't be tried for homicide and it sure is time that politicians who kill us serve life in prison also. Obama needs to fire every criminal on the revolving door of corruption that he hired.

[No Elephants]

6. Oh, piffle. All liberal nonsense, no doubt. Nothing to see here.

Nanny state. Blah, blah. blah.

[Hubert Flottz]

7. J-O-B-S

NOTHING must stand in the way of J-O-B-S! Not even life.