(Oxford Monographs on Medical Genetics. No. 49.) Edited by Charles J. Epstein, Robert P. Erickson, and Anthony Wynshaw-Boris. 1082 pp., illustrated. New York, Oxford University Press, 2004. $265. ISBN 0-19-514502-X.
Birth defects, the leading cause of infant mortality in theUnited States, are responsible for nearly 20 percent of allinfant deaths. In the 20th century, there was remarkable progressin cataloguing the chromosomal abnormalities, human teratogens,and single-gene defects that cause birth defects. Yet even today,the causes of two thirds of all birth defects remain unknown.The revolution in the biochemistry of genetics opened a windowon the ways in which metabolic errors can lead to diverse clinicalsyndromes such as the mental retardation caused by phenylketonuria.That breakthrough led to the recognition that, when it is begun. . . [Full Text of this Article]
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