December 20, 2006

How Environmental Pollutants Are Causing Reproductive Problems

"Across the U.S., female animals exposed to toxic chemicals are suffering from a flurry of health problems, from shrunken ovaries to spontaneous abortions. What does this mean for female humans?"

In this excellent article for Women's eNews, Molly M. Ginty summarizes current research -- and concerns -- about the extent of chemical pollution in the USA and its health effects.

Read the full text at:
http://www.alternet.org/story/45684/

Selected quotes:

"The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which tests the "body burden" of chemicals every two years, finds the average American now has 116 synthetic compounds in her body, including dioxin (produced by burning plastic), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (found in auto exhaust) and organochlorine pesticides (found in farming areas)...

According to federal records, U.S. companies produce an estimated 75,000 chemicals; of those, 3,000 are produced in amounts of more than a million pounds per year.

All told, more than 100,000 chemicals -- some of them toxins that were banned decades ago -- persist in the soil, air and water. Whenever people come into contact with these substances, they can pass through the skin, nostrils or mucus membranes and into bloodstreams and body fat...

To date, most studies on mother-to-child transmission -- and on these chemicals' long-term effects -- have been done on laboratory animals.

"It's unethical to experiment with these chemicals on people," says Shanna Swan, director of the Center for Reproductive Epidemiology at New York's University of Rochester. "And that's just one reason we don't have clear answers. There are hundreds of chemicals involved here, and studying just one of them costs upwards of $1 million."

Representatives of the petro-chemical industry say that until studies prove otherwise, there is little reason to worry about these compounds' negative effects..."