1. Birth defects are an enormous—but often overlooked—public health problem. Each year, another 120,000 children are born in the US with significant birth defects <click here>
2. For more than 20 years, birth defects have been the leading cause of infant mortality. <click here>
3. Clearly the leading causes of death in this age group are prematurity (115), the combined causes of SIDS, accidental suffocation and sleep related undetermined* (33), birth defects (25),and the combined causes of cancer, infection and other medical causes (16). <click here>