I lived near a "Superfund Site", did it cause my child's birth defects? I lived my entire life along a river in Michigan that the EPA deamed a "Superfund Site." It has since been cleaned up. At the time I was trying to conceive a child I was unaware that the area I was living in was so contaminated. My 1st child was born with a cleft lip and a congential heart defect - coarctation of the aorta. Could these defects have been caused because of the area I lived, and how can I find out for sure? My other concern is during the pregnancy of my second child the river was being dredged of contaminants and I wanted to know if that put my second child at more risk than my first child. My second child was born at 29 weeks but was only the size of a 26 week old, did that have something to do with living in a superfund site or because I was living in the area during the clean up. There seemed to be an increased number of children born with birth defects while the dredgeing was going on, spinabifida, children born without limbs, coincedence?

Summarized question: Can living near a "Superfund Site" cause birth defects?