Mission: To integrate geospatial and epidemiological data and characterize the spatial distribution of birth defects in New England in relation to inorganic arsenic.

Few epidemiologic studies exist on the potential teratogenic effects of arsenic in humans. Project 3 will measure the spatial distribution of birth defects and look for high-risk areas. Spatial associations between birth defects and private well drinking water arsenic concentrations will be examined and we will conduct feasibility studies to investigate, at the individual level, the associations between birth defect occurrence, arsenic and other environmental exposures.

Geocoded data on birth defect occurrences will be made available through the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study. Project 3 will estimate drinking water arsenic exposure using public databases combined with a large data set of private water systems collected through epidemiologic studies in the state in collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey. Project 3 will conduct a case-case study of birth defects in the region (i.e., with the collection of individual biomarker data on arsenic), and conduct preliminary analyses of the arsenic-birth defects associations on an individual level. This study, entitled the Prenatal Environmental Exposures and Child Health (PEECH) study, will lend preliminary data to launch a larger scale investigation of the potential impact of arsenic exposure on the incidence of birth defects.