While an embryo may die due to a chemical exposure and result in a miscarriage, a developing fetus will survive but can suffer altered DNA that results in malformations, deformities, retardation and birth defects – lifetime serious personal injuries that can and should have been avoided.
It is not as if scientists haven’t known that dangerous chemicals cause birth defects or only learned that fact recently.
Chemical manufacturers for decades did not report all known risks of chemical exposure, relying on the weakest reports assuring safety, to avoid loss of sales.
The same chemical suppliers that find themselves defendants in cancer cases are also defendants in birth defect cases because chemicals that cause mutations upset DNA. Mutagens are carcinogens and teratogens. The same chemicals that cause cancer are also responsible for birth defects.
Manufacturers are held responsible for birth defects becaus of failing to warn, but they have successfully provided themselves with a handmaiden in their defense known as the American Conference of Industrial Hygienists. It is largely a chemical industry dominated organization that has set...