The projects concern the effects of environmental exposures such
as endocrine disrupting chemicals, flame retardants, pesticides, metals, particulate air pollution, as well as drugs, psycho - social stressors and ethnical disparities.
The joint International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS) of the World Health Organisation (WHO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) publish the first State of the Science Report
on Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals.
Early pioneers in the field who warned us about the effects of
endocrine disrupting chemicals in the environment were Rachel Carson in her 1962 book, Silent Spring, and Theo Coburn in her book, Our Stolen Future: Threatening Our Fertility.
TreeHugger was one of the earliest sites to raise concern
about endocrine disrupting chemicals like Bisphenol A; we were loud in our support for the removal of polycarbonate bottles (an easy target as there are lots
However, in cases where knowledge about the effects is available, the results show a need to reduce the intake of
endocrine disrupting chemicals from current levels, such as phthalates and fluorinated chemicals.
If there are no adverse health effects, there's endocrine interaction but not endocrine disruption, and the substances are
not endocrine disrupting chemicals, a label frequently misused by the media and others.
«Our work highlights the fact that we need to test the effects of
potential endocrine disrupting chemicals in both rat and human cells to be able to accurately predict the risk,» said Professor Habert.
«Although you can not directly know of the source of DEHP in the system, research has reported extremely high levels of DEHP on the day of blood reinfusion compared to the previous day,» said Steven Neese, who studies
endocrine disrupting chemicals at the University of Illinois.
In light of Father's Day, I wanted to share some information on the harmful effects that could be caused
by endocrine disrupting chemicals, or EDCs, and how exposure could be negatively affecting the men in our lives.
Emily Barrett of Environmental Health Perspectives recently provided a great synopsis of an updated review of food contact materials and their potential to
leach endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDC's) into our food.
Recent studies have centered on potential water pollution from this process that may
increase endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in surface and ground water and whether populations living near these operations have an increased risk of disease.
Evidence suggests that these male reproductive disorders are at least partially due to the effects of
endocrine disrupting chemicals which are becoming increasingly concentrated and prevalent in the environment and that these EDs act on the testis during fetal development.
There are certainly the most options to choose from when looking for gifts for children, but I've found that many are lower - quality plastic items that break easily and release
harmful endocrine disrupting chemicals into the home or that only facilitate one activity.
While there are hundreds of studies
linking Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) to male infertility, this study examined what happened when three successive generations of males were exposed, not just one generation.
Not only can
endocrine disrupting chemicals affect developing babies later in their lives, but there's some evidence that they can also affect future generations: one study on rats showed that exposure to endocrine disruptors during pregnancy affects the brain two generations later!
There are such simple every day uses for plants in the form of essential oils such as getting rid of
endocrine disrupting chemical cleaners from our homes, clean skin care routines, monthly moon cycle care, as sacred tools for cleansing, meditation and so much more.
Increased conversion to estrogen may be due to age, weight gain, poor diet, lack of exercise, high stress, and hypothyroidism, and increased SHBG may occur from increased estrogen exposure (e.g., weight gain, birth control, plastics /
environmental endocrine disrupting chemicals), cigarette smoking, hyperthyroid (increased production) stress, and poor liver health (e.g. elevated liver enzymes).
Endocrine disrupting chemicals often are not «hazardous» according to traditional definitions of toxicity or carcinogenicity, and therefore escape traditional regulations prohibiting dangerous chemicals in many products or requiring labeling.
A new report, The Cost of Inaction (pdf), has been published by the Nordic Council of Ministers in an effort to promote regulatory action to
get endocrine disrupting chemicals out of the products consumers use every day.
Phthalates are a
suspected endocrine disrupting chemical and have been linked to an increasing number of reproductive health impacts at low dose exposures, and exposure to building materials containing phthalates has been correlated with asthma and related allergy impacts.
This means that exposures to the numerous chemicals in food and the environment, such
as endocrine disrupting chemicals and carcinogens, could be causing levels of damage that would not occur if the body were able to detoxify them.»
A new study led by biologist R. Thomas Zoeller of the University of Massachusetts Amherst provides «the strongest evidence to date» that
endocrine disrupting chemicals such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) found in flame retardant cloth, paint, adhesives and electrical transformers, can interfere with thyroid hormone action in pregnant women and may travel across the placenta to affect the fetus.
(And with the prevalence of
endocrine disrupting chemicals in everything from plastic bottles and metal cans, to detergents, flame retardants, food, toys, cosmetics, and pesticides, is it really any wonder?)