Fetal Exposure to Toxic Releases and Infant Health Every year,
millions of pounds of toxic chemicals thought to be linked to
developmental problems in fetuses and young children are
released into the air. In this paper we estimate the effect of
these releases on the health of newborns. Using data from the
Toxic Release Inventory Program and Vital Statistics Natality
and Mortality files, we find significant negative effects of
prenatal exposure to toxicants on gestation and birth weight. We
also find that several developmental chemicals increase the
probability of infant death. The effect is quite sizeable: the
reported reductions in cadmium, toluene, and epichlorohydrin
releases during the 90s could account for about 3.9 percent of
the overall decrease in infant mortality. Our results are robust
to several specification checks, such as comparing developmental
to non-developmental chemicals, and fugitive air releases to
stack air releases. Published: Janet Currie & Johannes F.
Schmieder, 2009. "Fetal Exposures