Published 25 August 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b3428
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b3428

Letters

Congenital abnormalities

Data needed to establish causes

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The cause of the reported cluster of children born with limb defects in Corby is unknown, despite the recent High Court verdict implicating toxic substances.¹ We need to identify clusters of congenital anomalies through routine surveillance and establish potential causes through rigorous scientific research.

The government set up the National Congenital Anomaly System for England and Wales in 1964 after the thalidomide "epidemic." Congenital anomalies were under-reported to this system, so regional registers were set up in some areas but cover fewer than half of all the births in England.^{2 3} They are all members of the British Isles Network of Congenital Anomaly Registers (BINOCAR) (www.binocar.org/), which aims to provide continuous monitoring of the frequency, nature, causes, and outcomes of congenital anomalies for the British Isles by means of national regional and disease specific registries.

Funding of these English registers is precarious, but long term support is crucial to . . . [Full text of this article]

¹ University of Leicester, Leicester

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