Campaigning mums with
some of their children - Stella Coffee, Natalie Margetson, Leon
Blackman, Courtney Barnes and Juliet Green

by Jamie Bullen

A banned chemical at the centre of a multi-million dollar
lawsuit has been identified as a possible cause behind babies born
with birth defects in Northfleet.

We revealed in February how five women living in Waterdales all gave birth to children with gastroschisis, a condition where the bowel grows outside the abdomen. It affects one in seven thousand births.

Kent's public health team immediately called for an
investigation and now the women believe they may have found a
possible link after researching atrazine.

However, health experts have dismissed the link as
"unlikely".

The chemical is at the centre of a lawsuit contested by legal
activist Erin Brockovich, who wants water companies to remove it
from their supplies.

Atrazine was banned by the European Union in 2004, but high
levels were discovered in Northfleet during a ground water study
four years later.

The chemical is used widely as a herbicide and research from
American scientists shows a link between it and an increase in
gastroschisis cases.

The mothers live in
Waterdales, Northfleet

Sonia Dalton, 35, of Epsom Close, Gravesend, said the chemical
was one of a few possible causes under investigation.

The women are due to meet Gravesham MP Adam Holloway (pictured
below) and Kent’s director of public health Meridan
Peachey on Friday.

Sonia said: "When it is in water supplies it can stay for a very
long time.

"That is just one of the possible causes that is being
investigated.

"From the government all we keep getting is that
they are still looking. The NHS are still deciding whether we are a
cluster or not."

In total, nine women have now come forward to say their children
have been diagnosed with gastroschisis and women have been urged to
report more cases.

A spokeswoman for the NHS dismissed the atrazine cause as
"unlikely", because of its banned status and agricultural use.

She said: "The public health team is carrying out a thorough
investigation to determine if there is a cluster of cases of
gastroschisis in the Waterdales area of Northfleet.

"This involves examining if there are more cases of the
particular disease than would normally be expected by comparing the
numbers of cases both locally and nationally.

"The chemical atrazine is not registered for use in the UK and
has not been used since 2004. It was used in agricultural areas,
not urban areas like Waterdales."

She added that an update on the investigation should be made
shortly.

The women have set up a support group on Facebook which now has
more than 170 members.