Reading the article about Exposure to fumonisins and the occurrence of neural tube defects(NTDS) at the border, what are the theoretical arguments the authors make that relate to their findings? WHat are the limitations of their research? In maquilapolis, the women in the film also talked about the NTDs, and they attributed the cause to be the contaminants from the plant that had been abandoned and never cleaned up. Activists in Cameron County (where we are going) insist that they are caused by
toxins from the maquis in Matamoros. Are these 3 arguments (including the fumonisins) mutually exclusive? Why or why not?
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While I did not find much information in the Texas Dept. of Health Services article relating to fumonisin exposure, I did find some information in one of the research sources listed on the Texas Dept. of State Health Services website. In a report by K.A. Hendricks titled "Neural tube defects along the Texas-Mexico border" it is stated that the effects on the human fetus by fumonisin (a class of toxins in corn)is unknown but it does cause NTDS in animals. The report suggests that a lack of folic acid may be a cause for the clusters of NTDS. The reading from the Texas Dept. of Health Services also suggests that taking folic acid daily is "a practice that could prevent 50-75% of all cases of NTDS." It seems that the research cannot give any definite answers to the cause of the birth defects. Cluster investigations only look into areas with high rates of birth defects and attempt to find exposure links. However, so many factors could potentially lead to abnormalities that it may be difficult to pinpoint one.
I believe that the arguments made by the women in the film and activists in Cameron County argue the same point, that factory toxins and pollutants cause birth defects. This argument is mutually exclusive from the argument that fumonisins lead to NTDS since fumonisins are a natural toxin found in corn. Because there does not appear to be a link between pollution levels and contamination of corn, I don't think these arguments are compatible. If it is true that eating corn tortillas while pregnant may lead to NTDS, then pollution and contamination could not be the sole causes, though likely detrimental in one way or another. I see the arguments made by the women in film and the activists in Cameron County as hand-in-hand. It would make sense that if toxins from an operating maquiladora could result in birth defects then the remnants of a factory and its leftover toxins could also lead to abnormalities.
Students, I mistakenly thought a different article was included in the reader that gave more details on the fumonisin and NTD connection. Tracy did a great job of looking up the issue and responding to the question. There has been a lot of research done on the NTB problem on and no connection has been found related to the toxins that may come from maquis. However a link was found with the fumonisin or mold in corn tortillas and a link with burning treated wood. Does this mean that the activists are wrong by claiming its the maquis that cause NTBs when the research doesn't bear it out?
Sandy
I think that this is a really cool investigation. Linking the equine ELEM outbreak to the human outbreak seems to make sense. It is a tall order to try to recreate the contexts in which to study the correlation—especially well after the important cluster outbreak is over. One limitation of the study stands out: testing the pregnant women and the corn occurred years after the initial anencephaly cluster in 1991. Thus the variables are not necessarily constant and are not necessarily reliable comparatives. Another limitation appears to be asking the women to recall the details of the corn they consumed during their pregnancy. Many details surely went forgotten.
The three proposed causes of the outbreak do not have to be mutually exclusive. If the mold that contaminated the corn with fumonisins is also found in some pollutants emitted by the factories, then there could be a compounding likelihood of potential anencephaly. However, I am not sure how the corn became moldy. Is mold found in toxins? I am way out of my bounds here.
Perhaps this question—addressing three different arguments for one problem—is an illustration of Rinquist’s critique of environmental justice research. It is not necessarily helpful to find more possible explanations. But if all of the arguments pertain to pollution/contamination in a localized environment, maybe the point is to prevent the contamination of our workplace, food and homes.
The article by Texas Dept. of Health Services kind of sucked. The information was not detailed enough to be convincing. For this reason, there were many angles left open for me to criticize from. I was bothered by the fact that we learned nothing about the families of the babies who died (but I understood that most news coverage is this vague). Vital information includes where the family resided what types of things the families were exposed to, etc. Also, I did not like how there were "facts" given but no further explanation given about why or how. They article stated, "NTD's are most common among Hispanics and least common in African Americans. I didn't like what they did here because all they did was state quick information and kept it at face value. They didn't explain that maybe the reason for this is that many people immigrate from Mexico and surrounding areas into southern Texas and they are the ones working in the Maquiladoras. I understand that they did this so that the reader could see the clear distinction that it was Hispanic people who were getting sick, but I still did not like the method used.
With the above stated, I think that I have realized that the article was trying to convey that the reason NTD’d are most common among Hispanic and low income families is because they are the people that suffer the environmental hazards. They after all are the major employees for the maquiladoras. If I think of it in this sense, then I can see that there are still limitations to this argument being made. I think that cluster studies are not sufficient ways to collect data because as we can see, the only reason this case of birth defects was brought to attention was because there were multiple babies. This means that if there had been past cases of maybe one or two babies born in proximity of days to each other, they were most likely over looked because they were not “cluster” enough. In cases like these, when one finally does catch on (in this case being that there’s a problem when multiple children die after birth) researchers need to try and look back into the past and ask questions about other incidents like this that may have occurred. The action the Texas State Legislature took by passing the Texas Birth Defects Act of 1993 which created a Texas Birth Defects Registry, was good because it showed an invested interest to identify the numbers of children born with defects and hope for initiatives like the TNTDP to take interest in research.
Relating this all back to the video we watched today I do not think I know enough information about NTD’s to decipher whether they can be caused by toxins released in the air, earth, and water. I know that I have a hunch that they are results of the chemicals used in Maquiladoras; it is not hard to understand this at all. In regards to an abandoned maquiladora vs. one still active, I do not think that one is free from being able to harm the people who work and live in that environment. This is why I think that these cases are all similar. The three babies born who died shortly after, the pollution talked about today in Maquilapolis that were from an abandon factory, and people in Cameron County who believe running Maquis’ toxins affect people. What separates these cases so drastically; in my opinion, nothing short of location.
Members of Cameron County attribute NTDs to pollution from pesticide use from nearby assembly plants. The women from “Maquilapolis” believe the cause of this birth defect to be the contaminants left behind after plants have shut down and left without cleaning up. The Texas Department of State Health Services investigates, and continues to investigate, many possible causes of the defects. Following are some of the findings: maternal exposure to arsenic, cadmium, or lead were not significant risk factors. Mothers with NTD-affected births were, however, more likely to have been exposed to burning treated wood than mothers of births without defects. Eating more than 300 tortillas per month during the first trimester seemed to increase NTD-affected pregnancies. Fumonisin exposure apparently increases the risk of NTD. Also, women with little emotional support and extreme stress or depression were 4.6 times more likely to have an NTD-affected pregnancy. Mothers who worked with solvent and at a cleaning or health facility were at high risk. Folic acid supplements are found to help prevent NTD pregnancy.
Allie brings up a great point: these mothers are asked to recall eating habits, exposures to toxins (of which they may not have even been aware), their mood, etc. long after giving birth. It is an ambitious study, but it would be great to see the results years in the future with test subjects who agree to document their behavior during pregnancy and for the scientists to investigate precisely the levels of toxins in the specific environment that the women frequent at the time.
I do not believe these arguments have to be mutually exclusive. If toxins in the factories infiltrate the mother’s body while she is at work in a factory, it is reasonable to conjecture that the waste left behind from abandoned factories will also affect the mothers, their babies, and the community. While I know nothing of he toxic Fumonisins or the molds from which it’s produced, I have no arguments to support the claim that contaminated soil and water from the maquis could not have affected the corn plants and caused a harmful genetic mutation in them, or caused other types of harm to the plants, such as making them susceptible to getting moldy. Nature has a way of being linked in a web of cause and effect. An environment is so interconnected and interdependent that I have no problem seeing how exposure to toxic waste could affect both humans and corn, and how then eating this corn could only increase the risk of a NDT-associated pregnancy.
The argument that several cases carries is that the race and ethnicity as well as socio-economic status of people living at the border are correlated to the greater impacts of environmental hazards which are likely to hit the poor population the hardest due to their lack of political and economic power. It does not seem that NTDs have a clear cause due to multiple factors that need to be taken into account in order to measure if the degree of environmental damages (air pollution, water pollution, chemical exposure through workplace or at home, and toxic dumping for examples) is correlated significantly to the affected communities’ socio-economic standing or those of people of colors. There seems a possible connection between NTDs and chemical exposure, but the cause is still unknown since there are more than one potential attribute. The women in maquilapolis clearly asserted that their health problems are caused by contaminants that factories produce and those firms have to be accountable for their physical damages to the workers. The film demonstrated to be more convincing because of women’s testimony on how their health conditions dramatically worsened after they started working in maquiladoras as well as started living nearby the industrial sites. There seems to be a strong correlation between the industrial wastes and local health problems. I believe that either active or abandoned plants can cause sickness due to their heavy use of chemicals of any sort. As the women’s assertions in “performing the border,” the powerful industries consider the workers as commodities rather than potential human capital and hence exploit them as much as they can until they begin fighting back for their basic needs. People who know the issue might assume that there is a strong correlation between environmental hazards and income/ethnicity because of successive reports about it, but I felt it is also important to examine other potential leading factors for health problems such as eating habits and age.
The theoretical responses to the findings of NTD are that there is a correlation to fumonisin or mold in corn tortillas and a link with burning treated wood region consume and wood burning, that there is toxic hazard in the area due to maquis, and that due to the migration of people from so many areas, that there is very easy transfer of desease in the area. No actual information is clear based on data to form an articulate response as to what has actually lead to the NTD in the area but there are some hypothesis that attribute to finding a solution. One response that I still don’t get after the readings is that the mold in the corn tortillas correlated with burning treated wood. Information from the reading says that, “in ’96 Mexican children suffered from malnutrition when the U.S. corn crop was smaller than expected for Mexico”. Due to NAFTA, Mexico has left their dedicated production of corn up to the U.S. to produce because of the focus on the Malquiadora industry.
This industry I believe could definitely leave to NTD, as it attributes to so many other health disparities in the region. The reading says, “In rural areas, problems associated with remoteness, high levels of dust particulate pollution, and pesticide exposure, as well as cultural and language barriers, require group- specific problem-solving”. It also says, “24 Environmental con-taminants, including raw sewage and toxic wastes, pollute the Rio Grande; and air pollution levels greatly exceed all standard.” In adition to hazardous circumstance, “On the border, this is seen daily in cases of paying a laborer $3 an hour because "he won't complain," or the clinician's disquiet over the chronic patients' inability to buy prescription medications because of the high cost. This is the effect seen when people make their ends (objectives) justify the means they use, even if those means bring harm to others.” This as well as the migration for jobs and between borders creates an atmosphere where health hazards are incredible. “Movement between countries is a concern for the spread of communicable diseases, adding to the fact that, on the US side, the health of the border population ranks among the poorest in the nation”.
These three theoretical arguments do not cancel each other out; in fact they could all attribute to strengthen each others’ affect on people. The fact of the matter is, there really is not enough money in the region and action towards the NTD outbreak. All that can really be done right now, is health promotion. ‘Health promotion is the combination of educational and environmental supports for actions and conditions of living conductive to health,’ that enable people and communities to gain more control over the determinants of their health”.
“Exposure to Fumonisins and the Occurrence of Neural Tube Defects along the Texas-Mexico Border” By Missmer, Suarez, Felkne, Nang, Merrill Jr., Rothman, Henderikcs
And “Texas Department of State Health Services Neural Tube Defects and the Texas-Mexico Border”
Neural Tube Defects are defined as embryonic defects of the brain and spinal cord resulting from failure of the neural tube to close. Spina bifida and anencephaly (failure of anterior tube closure) are the most common forms of NTC prevalence (27 per 10,000 births).
The theoretical arguments the authors make that relate to findings about exposure to fumonisins and the occurrence of neural tube defects (NTDs) at the border are diverse and include information such as the fact that Mexican Americans in Texas consume large quantities of corn, primarily in the form of tortillas which may mean exposure to high levels of fumonisins which aid in causing NTDs. This was supported by information about equine leukoencephalomalacia (ELEM), which is liquefaction of the white matter of the brain in horses. This occurred nationwide, but there were many more cluster in border regions, and happened during the same time period of the clusters of anencephaly in Cameron County, Texas. The horses were taken off the corn feed which was contaminated while humans continued to eat this crop of corn. The corn was contaminated with a class of mycotoxins called fumonisins produced by molds. The findings in the “Exposure” article suggest that fumonisin exposure increases the risk of NTD proportionate to close up to a threshold level, at which point fetal death may be more likely to occur.
The limitations of the research in these two articles include recognition of the need for population studies that can more directly measure individual fumonisin intakes and assess effects on the developing embryo.
I found it a little limiting and interesting that women were paid $20 for the two hour interview that went along with this case-study and an additional $20 for blood and urine samples that were collected. This shows how poor or how eager people were to learn more about NTDs, and put a different element to the study than I expected. I believe that it is very important to note that “Few women reported ever taking preconceptional folic acid supplements” which as said to be able to reduce NTDs 50-0%. The results demonstrated NTDs risks increased with exposure to homemade tortillas. Tortillas made at home had a lower concentration of lime and poorer quality corn than tortillas bought in stores and higher NTD rates were found in homemade tortillas. They are both made with corn so this slightly contradicts the corn theory about the association between fumonisin exposure and NTDs.
The comment in the, “Texas State of Health Services Neural Tube Defects and the Texas-Mexico Border” article lacked factual evidence, as Alida pointed out, but to me was still interesting. This is the controversial comment the article included in the introduction, “It was known that in the United States NIDs are most common among Hispanics and least common in African Americans”. This dichotomy seemed a bit at odds, but it also could point to culture and different methods of preparing foods and the normal food staples that are a part of different cultures. I interpreted the statement as putting importance on the food diet and how it affects your body, going so far as to say maybe African Americans do not eat a lot of corn.
It also caught my attention that under the ‘What causes clusters?’ subtitle it said, “Rarely, a cluster is due to an environmental exposure that all the mothers and fathers have in common.” It seems suspicious to me that this is included if this issue is not important, and it is very interesting that the Texas government is saying environment has nothing to do with Birth Defects?! Of course it does, because the environment you live and grow up in defines what you eat, how you live, and what you are exposed to. I also found this DSHS article to be slightly confusing because some times it read like an academic essay at other times a directional pamphlet on how to recognize clusters.
In Maquilapolis, the women in the film talked about NTDs and attributed the cause to be the contaminants from the plant that had been abandoned and never cleaned up. I think that this is very possible. If where you live, work, and play is contaminated with poisonous toxins then of course everything you touch, cook, and eat will also be contaminated.
Activists from Cameron County insist that toxins cause NTDs from the maquis in Matamoros and I believe this is very viable. But after reading these two articles I would also put a major emphasis on lack of folic acid intake during pregnancy as one of the causes of NTDs.
These three arguments are mutually exclusive and can all be used to together to argue that NTDs are caused by toxins.
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