One of New Mexico’s biggest economic industries may also be endangering its youngest residents.
The oil and gas industry contributes over $2 billion to the New Mexican economy, according to the Carlsbad Department of Development. However, those industries are significant contributors of “health-damaging air pollutant emissions,” according to PSE Healthy Energy. Oil and gas may also contribute to low birth weights among New Mexican infants, a new University of New Mexico study published in the Journal of Environmental Management shows.
The study – contributed to by Xi Gong, Yanhong Huang and Yan Lin of the UNM Department of Geography & Environmental Studies – linked maternal exposure to five major industrial-related chemicals to low birth weight. In the study, low birth weight was defined as less than about 5 ½ pounds.
Even accounting for other potential factors such as the maternal age and alcohol consumption and the baby’s sex and gestational age, the study found a positive correlation between a mother’s exposure to certain chemical air pollutants and a baby’s risk of being born underweight.
This was the first study that specifically highlighted 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene as a major risk factor, the study reads. The chemical 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene is used by oil refineries as a gasoline additive, according to Delaware Health and Social Services.
Ethylbenzene, another chemical named in the study, naturally occurs in coal tar and petroleum. Additionally, it is found in manufactured products like insecticides, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Low birth weight is associated with an increased risk of neonatal mortality and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, as well as physical and cognitive impairments later in life, according to Stanford Medicine. New Mexico has the eighth highest rate of babies born with low birth weights, according to the CDC.
The study noted that parts of Texas, including El Paso, have emitted the same five chemicals as New Mexico, and future studies may be directed at those areas and southeastern New Mexico.
Addison Fulton is the culture editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com
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