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Maghtab and birth defects

By Kurt SansoneCurrent data available at the birth defects registry at St Luke’s Hospital does not give sufficient details to carry out a health impact assessment of the Maghtab dump on pregnant mothers living close by, although it will soon be possible to carry out such a study in due course.

The Principal Medical Officer at the Congenital Anomalies Registry, Dr Miriam Gatt, told MaltaToday, that to carry out a similar study to the one revealed by this newspaper two weeks ago, "many years more data will be required and a dedicated full scale epidemiological study, with the necessary resources, will need to be undertaken."

The Eurhazcon Study published in 1998, which the Congenital Anomalies Registry is aware of, had established a link between hazardous landfills and birth defects in babies whose mothers live within 3km of landfills.

The Malta Congenital Registry regularly monitors the occurrence of birth defects in the Maltese Islands. Information made available to MaltaToday shows that between 1993-1999, the total number of Neural Tube Defects (NTDs) – a defined group of brain and spinal defects – for the localities within 3km of Maghtab, reached 12 cases out of a total of 4,964 births. This works out at a rate of 24.2 per 10,000 births or 0.24% of total births.

The localities included within the 3km zone are St Paul’s Bay, Naxxar, Gharghur, St Julians, San Gwann, Swieqi and Pembroke. They comprise a total population of 60,000 people, half of whom are women.

During the same period, the number of NTDs for the whole of the Maltese Islands stood at 45 cases out of a total of 33,161 births with a rate of occurrence of 13.6 per 10,000 births or 0.14% of births.

Dr Miriam Gatt explained that although there is a difference in the occurrence rates between that for all Malta and that for the ‘Maghtab region’, "this difference does not reach statistical significance."

She added, "various factors such as genetic, socio-economic status and other environmental conditions may also influence the risk of NTDs."

Dr Gatt reiterated that taking folic acid supplementation before and during the first three months of pregnancy will greatly reduce the risk of NTDs.

Residents living within the ‘Maghtab region’ who contacted MaltaToday to express their concern at the revelations published by this newspaper, said that the only solution to the problem is to close the landfill once and for all. They said that in face of foreign studies that have already established links between hazardous landfills and birth defects, it would be pointless to conduct our own study.

"The information is there and we expect government to take urgent action to close the dump," was the general comment received by this newspaper.