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Vernal • Mary Ann and Joe LeDosquet's newborn daughter Julia had been home from the hospital for 12 hours when they first heard the wheezy croak of her windpipe collapsing.

The parents rushed the child to the emergency room. A doctor later diagnosed the girl with a rare birth defect known as tracheomalacia. For months, each time Julia inhaled, the walls of her trachea flopped.

"It sounded like a death rattle" Joe said Saturday.

The condition can be life-threatening, but usually improves with time. Julia, now 17 months old, breathes quietly and babbles easily.

After hearing of another neighborhood child with the same diagnosis and even more in Vernal, the LeDosquets began wondering if air pollution played a role. The wintertime soot blanketing this eastern Utah boomtown sometimes reaches unhealthy levels, according to federal standards.

The LeDosquets on Friday evening were among about 50 parents, teachers, ranchers and others who attended a forum on air pollution and pregnancy in the Vernal Junior High School auditorium. A panel of four doctors working with Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment gave the second in a yearlong series of lectures. They reviewed a growing body of research discussing air pollution, pregnancy and childhood development.

"If you're going to protect yourself, you have to know what the medical research shows," said Brian Moench, an anesthesiologist and president of the physicians group.

The doctors detailed studies of infants with birth defects or other complications; expectant mothers; grade school children and others. Research locations ranged from New Jersey to Australia.

Moench acknowledges the studies show no definitive cause of conditions such as Julia's. Still, he said, they should raise concerns.

In January, the Uinta Basin drew national attention after a Los Angeles Times report on Donna Young, the Vernal midwife who documented an uptick in stillbirths in 2013. The spotlight remains: At the meeting Friday, an attendee introduced himself as a writer for Rolling Stone Magazine. A documentary film crew also hovered.

No one in the auditorium criticized the physicians. Instead, many sought tips to limit pollution exposure. Michael Woodruff, an Intermountain Healthcare emergency room doctor, advised installing furnace filters at home, avoiding indoor wood fire and replacing old stoves.

"You don't want your lungs to be the first filter that this air hits," Woodruff said.

Rebecca Ponder, an Intermountain Healthcare obstetrician-gynecologist, said more of her patients are asking about possible effects of cold-weather smog. Ponder and her colleagues noted a recent peer-reviewed Ohio study that found high levels of fine particulate air pollution pose a risk to pregnancies in the last trimester, but not in the first two.

The physicians urged discussions with policy makers about possible solutions.

On March 18, state and local health managers confirmed Young's suspicion of a rise in Uinta Basin stillbirths in recent years. A larger statistical analysis revealed the bump did not set the region apart from the rest of Utah, said Department of Health Epidemiologist Sam Lefevre. The local Tri-County Health Department overseeing Daggett, Duchesne and Uintah counties initiated the study.

Moench challenges the conclusion and calls for follow-up environmental study.

"We do think there's a problem." Moench said. "We think something needs to be done."

But Tri-County officials say they are waiting on the next wave of data to decide. Meanwhile, they are strengthening prenatal health programs.

Jordan Mathis, director of the local agency, declined to comment on the forum last week. Mathis said he learned of the event a few days beforehand and a family commitment prevented him from attending.

After the meeting, Young said she had expected more locals to attend.

"There should've been more people here. There are more expectant mothers than interest" in the research, she said.

Many in the boomtown fear such discussion threatens livelihoods, said Adam Fugal, a father of five from Neola. Better attendance wasn't likely in the region home to 80 percent of the state's oil and gas production — especially as low oil prices have delayed operations, he said.

"A lot of people are out of work," added Fugal, an Iraq War veteran working toward a manufacturing technician's certificate.

Brenda Durant, of Maeser, agreed.

"Unfortunately — and fortunately — we're very dependent on the oil and gas industry," she said.

In the last few years, a Wingers Roadhouse Grill and a Lowes have moved in, among other chain businesses. The development has helped Vernal native Karen Unck, 21, who used to drive hours to Salt Lake City or Colorado for errands.

Still, the Vernal native said she is curious about pollution's potential effects.

Uintah County Commissioner Bill Stringer took notes at the Friday panel but declined to comment on specifics. He stopped short of calling for more local air quality studies, but said the county was awaiting results from ongoing research at Utah State University. If the study indicates more extreme levels of pollution, he said after the meeting, "not doing anything is not acceptable."

Mary Ann LeDosquet, an accountant, and Joe, a graphic design teacher at Uintah High School, agree. But they would like to see more studies get underway as soon as possible. The parents say they appreciate Vernal for a community-wide focus on family, which yielded multiple Easter egg hunts in April.

The LeDosquets were hoping to have a fourth child in addition to Julia and her siblings Audrey, 8 and Liam, 4, both born healthy in other states. They are putting the plan on hold, anxious for more local data but careful not to assign fault, Mary Ann said.

Added Joe: "I think finding a solution is more important than placing blame."

@anniebknox