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There is increasing evidence that synthetic chemicals in the environment
may be interfering with our bodies' fragile endocrine system, even at
relatively low levels of exposure. The endocrine system consists of
glands that produce hormones that act together to guide development,
growth, reproduction, immunity, normal organ function and behavior.
Chemicals can disrupt this complicated and vital system in several ways.
They can mimic or block chemicals naturally found in our bodies, alter
our hormone levels, interfere with the body's ability to produce
hormones and cause long-term effects in offspring born to mothers who
are exposed during pregnancy. A well-known drug and endocrine
disruptor, DES, was given to pregnant women in an effort to prevent
miscarriages during the 1950's and 1960's. Not only was it ineffective
in preventing miscarriages, but children of these women developed
unusual cancers of the reproductive tract and birth defects of the
uterus and ovaries.
Suspected endocrine-disrupting chemicals
are found in pesticides, cleaning products, detergents, personal care
products and chemicals used in the manufacture of plastics. Most of them
are fat-soluble, meaning that they do not move through the body but are
stored in body fat. These chemicals are passed from mother to child
through the placenta and in breast milk.
Because so many of
the suspected chemicals are used extensively in industry, and thus play
an important role in our economy, linking them to serious environmental
or human health problems is going to create much controversy. As with
all potentially harmful environmental exposures, taking precautions to
reduce risk is the best route.
WEB
RESOURCES
"Across Generations: The industrial
chemical pollution mothers and daughters share and inherit"
www.ewg.org/reports/generations/
The
Environmental Working Group published this detailed study documenting
key environmental contaminants and the genetic mother-daughter link
through which these chemicals pass. This study provides findings from
tests of four mothers and their daughters, each showing an average of 35
consumer product pollutants.
Ourstolenfuture.org
www.ourstolenfuture.org
This web site tracks
the most recent developments in how common contaminants can interfere
with fetus development. The site continues the world-renowned research
begun in the book Our Stolen Future, which discusses how man-made
chemical contaminants can affect hormones in humans and
wildlife.
"Pesticides as Endocrine
Disruptors"
www.pmac.net/endodisr.htm
Pest Management at
the Crossroads, a Benbrook Consulting Services site, provides several
links to articles on how chemicals in the environment act as hormone
disrupters.
PUBLICATIONS
Hormonal
Chaos: The Scientific and Social Origins of the Environmental Endocrine
Hypothesis by Sheldon Krimsky (The Johns Hopkins
University Press, 2000)
Our Stolen
Future: How We Are Threatening Our Own Fertility, Intelligence, and
Survival by Theo Colborn, Dianne Dumanoski and John
Peterson Myers (Penguin Books USA, 1997)
Grassroots Environmental Education • 52 Main Street • Port Washington, NY 11050
(p) 516-883-0887 • (f) 516-944-6586 • gee@grassrootsinfo.org
©2009 Grassroots Environmental Education
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