Sunday, November 08, 2009

Birth Defects in small Dominican Town

The Miami Herald has a great article that examines the causes of explosive growth in birth defects among the residents of Arroyo Barril. Arroyo Barril is a small town on the Samana peninsula. Women are having babies without organs and limbs, many towns people are ill. And cause could possibly some be toxic rock ash that was brought to the town from a company in Virginia and left in the town for years. One of the most amazing parts to the article is the talk of women who are pregnant and find out through tests that their children have no brains, or other organs. But, because abortion is illegal in the Dominican Republic these women must carry their babies to term.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

OMG! That's terrible. What Virginia company is it? They need to be made responsible!
OH, and abortion is illegal. That's a crime in my book.

Anonymous said...

The Dominican Legislature recently banned all abortions. They conceded to the pressure of the Catholic Church and other fundamentalist groups even including the prohibition of abortion in the Dominican Constitution. This means that if a woman is raped, a victim of incest, or carries a malformed child she must give birth to it. This will only produce an increase in illegal abortions in places where women will be exposed to unsanitary conditions. Unwanted babies will mysteriously die or be abandoned in any campo or hole in the ground. But then, what do I know? I'm not half as intelligent as the legislators who banned
abortion in the DR.....

Diandra said...

ABSOLUTELY APPALLING!!

Anonymous said...

Lunacy.

Anonymous said...

these legislatures have left me dumb-founded. I saw this on the Spanish TV news in NY. such a horrific situation.

Veronica Pearman said...

I am a Dominican female born in the US. I would really like to know what Virginia Company. If anyone finds out please post. I'm going to do research on this one. This is a class action suit as far as I'm concerned. I'm disgusted, and angry as hell. Thank you for posting.

Veronica Pearman said...

OK, just found out that the Dominican Government has filed suit with attorneys in Washington DC and Philadelphia. The company in Virginia for those that are interested is AES based in Arlington VA. Just FYI mating grounds of humpback whales have been affected and the ecology of pristine National Parks, and marine protected areas. This is a mess.