Of the 3.66 million children born in the United States each year, one in 33 is born with structural birth defect and one in 6 children has a neurodevelopmental disorder (ex. Attention Disorder, Autistic Spectrum Disorder, learning disability.)

The causes of these disorders may include:

• Genes: traits passed down from one generation to the next
• Behaviors: smoking, drinking, taking recreational drugs; taking certain prescription or over-the-counter medications
• Maternal Illnesses like diabetes, rubella, CMV and Zika
• Environmental exposures to toxic chemicals or pollutants

About 20% of birth defects are caused by genetic factors, but 80% may be attributed to genes interacting with toxic exposures or maternal illnesses.  Even the father’s exposures may play a part.

By discovering the cause(s) of the 80% of non-genetic birth defects, future birth defects can be prevented and even the treatment of a specific disorder may be improved by knowing the cause.

The National Birth Defect Registry collects comprehensive data that has found links between certain exposures and patterns of birth defects.

The more cases in the registry, the more preventable causes of birth defects we can discover.