Rare birth defect claims babies' lives in Bryan-College Station 4 babies die of birth defect

Officials looking into trisomy 18 cases

A confirmed cluster of a rare and fatal birth defect in Bryan-College Station is being investigated by both the Texas Department of State Health Services and professors at Texas A&M University.

Between August 2009 and February 2010, five families conceived children who were born with trisomy 18, a chromosomal defect that occurs at conception and causes the baby to have three copies of the number 18 chromosome instead of the usual two.

Four of the children born with trisomy 18 in Bryan-College Station died before their first birthdays. Stevie, the only baby still living, will turn 1 this May.

According to data the DSHS used from the Texas Birth Defects Registry in its report, there were eight trisomy 18 cases reported in Brazos County in the previous decade.

2009 chemical fire eyed

The parents of the local trisomy 18 babies have speculated their exposure to the El Dorado Chemical Co. fire on July 30, 2009, may have played a role in causing the chromosomal defect, and researchers are exploring that possibility.

"It would be foolish to ignore the fact that there was a massive chemical release right here, that all five families were directly affected by. We have to look at that and see what links might be there," said Nate Sharp, whose daughter, Kate Austyn Sharp, died one month after being born with trisomy 18.

"We're far less interested in pointing the finger at El Dorado than we are in just figuring out what the cause is — if it's something else, I want to know that."

Mom Holly Sharp added: "She was beautiful. She looked so perfect, to me it was so hard to understand that she could have something so wrong with her. It's clearly not just a fluke, there's something more to it, and if that can be determined - the risk factors - we need to know."

Company to investigate

John Carver, vice president of El Dorado Chemical Co., said he didn't know of the DSHS report, but planned on having an independent researcher take a look at the data.

"We do take it seriously, and we definitely will investigate it thoroughly," he said. "There are some glaring errors, though. We've got documentation that shows virtually all fertilizer on site was not consumed in the fire."

Carver said the amount of fertilizer actually burned was far less than the 557 tons El Dorado listed as the total inventory in the facility.

When pressed, he couldn't offer a more realistic estimate of the amount of fertilizer that burned, but said a majority was taken away later and disposed of under the guidance of Texas Commission on Environmental Quality officials.

Carrie Williams, a spokeswoman for the DSHS, said the agency's staff is "very interested" in speaking with families who recently had babies diagnosed with trisomy 18.

"We first learned of this situation when concerned members of the community brought it to our attention," she said.