Huge escalation in birth defects and cancer cases in Iraq’s Falluja

Local Editor, 16-11-2009

Doctors in Iraq's war-ravaged enclave of Falluja are facing up to 15 times as many chronic deformities in infants and a spike in early life cancers that may be linked to toxic materials left over from the decades of war epically since US invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The extraordinary rise in birth defects has crystallized over recent months as specialists working in Falluja's over-stretched health system have started collecting detailed clinical records of all babies born.

Neurologists and obstetricians in the city say the rise in birth defects - which include a baby born with two heads, babies with multiple tumors, and others with nervous system problems - are unprecedented.

After several years of speculation and anecdotal evidence, a picture of a highly disturbing phenomenon in one of Iraq's most battered areas has now taken shape. Previously all miscarried babies, including those with birth defects or infants who were not given ongoing care, were not listed as abnormal cases.

Abnormal clusters of infant tumors have also been repeatedly cited in Basra and Najaf - areas that have in the past also been intense battle zones where modern munitions have been heavily used.
Falluja was the scene of the two setpiece battles that followed the US-led invasion.
Statistics on infant tumors are not considered as reliable as new data about nervous system anomalies, which are usually evident immediately after birth.

Iraq's health ministry remains mostly dysfunctional and unable to co-ordinate a response to the city's pressing needs.