The data initially were trivial anecdotal but gradually a body of data started accumulating to the extent that we now know that the synthetic chemicals which have permeated our workplace our consumer products our air our water produced cancer and also birth defects
The toxic herbicide reportedly caused over 50, 000 birth defects and hundreds of thousands of cancers in Vietnamese civilians and soldiers and in former American troops serving in South East Asia.
a. [ L. defectivus: cf. F. défectif. See Defect. ] 1. Wanting in something; incomplete; lacking a part; deficient; imperfect; faulty; -- applied either to natural or moral qualities; as, a defective limb; defective timber; a defective copy or account; a defective character; defective rules. [ 1913 Webster ]
2. (Gram.) Lacking some of the usual forms of declension or conjugation; as, a defective noun or verb. -- De*fect"ive*ly, adv. -- De*fect"ive*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]
n. 1. Anything that is defective or lacking in some respect. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]
2. (Med.) One who is lacking physically or mentally.
☞ Under the term defectives are included deaf-mutes, the blind, the feeble-minded, the insane, and sometimes, esp. in criminology, criminals and paupers. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]