Camp Lejeune: Oral cleft defects claims

Maternal exposure to industrial solvents increases the risk of having a child with an oral cleft defect

The lips form between the fourth and seventh weeks of pregnancy. A cleft lip occurs if the tissue that makes up the lip does not join completely before birth. The roof of the mouth forms between the sixth and the ninth week of pregnancy.

If the tissue that makes up the roof of the mouth, medically known as the palate, does not join together completely during pregnancy, cleft palate is diagnosed.

According to a study from the medical journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, exposure to industrial solvents increases the risk of pregnant women giving birth to a child with an oral cleft defect. The risk increased linearly with the level of exposure within the 3 subgroups of analyzed solvents we considered - aliphatic alcohols, glycol ethers, and other oxygenated solvents, including esters, ketones, and aliphatic aldehydes.

Another study published in Environmental Health analyzed the risk of congenital anomalies following prenatal exposure to tetrachloroethylene (PCE), a solvent that was also present in Camp Lejeune’s drinking water. Researchers found that the risk of oral cleft defects was high among test subjects at any level of prenatal PCE exposure.