FED: Study links insect repellent to birth defect

AAP General News (Australia)
12-01-2009
FED: Study links insect repellent to birth defect

Experts say pregnant women should rethink their use of insect repellent .. after a
study found a link to an increasingly common birth defect.

European researchers have found an association between mums who used the repellent
in the earliest phase of their pregnancy .. and an increased rate of a condition called
hypospadia in male children.

This is where the opening of the penis is in the wrong place .. usually back from the
tip and on the underside .. and it often requires corrective surgery.

The condition affects one to two boys in every 500 births.

AAP RTV dr/wf

KEYWORD: REPELLENT (SYDNEY)

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