Let's Rule Out the Obvious

I'll confess that maybe the entire study on the effects of the WTC debris cloud on birth weights explains it, but news accounts don't make clear why stress was ruled out as a cause of lower births weights.

The NYT account says some sort of stress survey was done, but details are sketchy.

Comments

[Me again]

Given the uncounted myriad of factors relating to life in the big city, how were all the other factors controlled for?
As the man in the movie said, "InconTHIEVable!"

[s.m. koppelman]

I wouldn't rule out stress as a factor either, but I'm wondering: were you living near Lower Manhattan in the weeks and months after the massacre? Days later there was vizible smoky haze. Even many weeks later, the acrid smell of burnt plastic and rubber and solvents and whatever else was everywhere for miles around.

[Stephen Terry]

The paper says they gave the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder checklist to both groups.