Woman Living in Bubble Because of Allergies Has Baby

SYDNEY, Australia — A former Australian beauty queen with an allergy to 20th-Century chemicals has given birth to a girl in a porcelain bubble that she calls home.

Debra Paoletto, 26, whose condition was diagnosed in 1988 as an “environmental illness” that caused her to faint and vomit when she smelled chemical vapors given off by modern materials such as plastics or perfumes.

Last June the former Miss Sunshine Coast retreated to a coastal hide-out, spending the whole day in a steel bubble coated with porcelain free of vapors.

Her husband Christian said today that Debra gave birth to a girl, Elke, last Saturday after a 20-hour labor.

Doctors believe her condition is linked to exposure to pesticides during her childhood when she had frequently been ill for no apparent reason, Christian said.