EPA Administrator Announces $7.7M Grant To Duke To Study Causes Of Premature Birth, Low Birthweight Among Infants In Southern States

Stephen Johnson, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, on Tuesday announced that the agency will provide a $7.7 million grant to fund a five-year study at Duke University that will investigate the causes of premature birth and low birthweight among infants in Southern states, the Raleigh News & Observer reports. According to the News & Observer, infants born in Southern states are more likely to be born prematurely, weigh too little or die, compared with the rest of the country.

The study aims to reverse the recent rise in premature births and low birthweights reported in many Southern states. Researchers will work with community groups and local health clinics, examining how fetal growth is affected by genetics, socioeconomic factors and environmental factors, such as growing up in substandard housing or breathing polluted air. A new research center at Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences will conduct the study.

Marie Lynn Miranda, an associate research professor and director of the new research center, said many potential hazards during pregnancy affect birth outcomes, including environmental exposures to substances, such as pesticides, lead and mercury; social stress; a woman's health; and genetic predisposition to disease. If women "get it wrong in the beginning, there is a whole cascade of health effects that individuals grow up with," including obesity, heart disease and diabetes in adults, Miranda said

She added that the rate of premature birth and low birth weights also vary significantly by race and ethnic group. "These inequalities are especially pronounced in the American South," Miranda said, adding that while the inequalities are well documented, researchers do not know what causes them. "It's not just a difference in income and socioeconomic status. There's more going on," she said.

According to the News & Observer, the grant is the largest for a children's center in EPA's history, and the Duke research center is the first in the South that will focus on factors affecting births that are worsened by poor health (Rawlins, Raleigh News & Observer, 5/16).

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