OCCUPATIONAL CHEMICAL EXPOSURES AND CONGE NITAL-ANOMALIES - STATE-OF-THE-ART

Several thousands of compounds with a potential reproductive toxicity have been identified in animals, some of them are teratogens. In human s, only a small number of chemicals, administered as drugs, present in the diet, or in the occupational environment are recognized human ter atogens. In parallel, about 60 % of congenital anomalies have no ident ified cause and most probably some compounds present in the environmen t may contribute to certain anomalies. This paper presents a review of published epidemiological studies on the association between occupati onal exposures and congenital anomalies, focusing move particularly on some groups of compounds or some occupations such as: anaesthetic gas es, laboratory work, solvents, pesticides and lead.