Pregnant women living near incinerators or crematoriums may have had a higher risk of having a child with birth defects, according to the recently published (Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health) findings of a British research team.

Reuters reports that scientists at the University of Newcastle said they uncovered a 17 per cent higher incidence of spina bifida and a 12 per cent greater incidence of heart defects in an analysis of almost 245,000 births in north-west England between 1956 and 1993.

The author, Professor Louise Parker, called for further studies, including examining pollution levels emitted by the buildings, because they said they could not establish a cause for the defects from their results. "Further investigations using actual pollution levels and high quality data ... are needed," Parker said.