Many synthetic chemicals can harm your health and that of your children. Evidence has doubled in the last five years about the negative impact on our health of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in plastics, pesticides, flame retardants and other merchandise, according to a new review of recent literature.
The new review, published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology journal, lists recent studies that have linked endocrine-disrupting chemicals with weight gain in women and polycystic ovary syndrome, a significant cause of infertility. These chemicals have also played a role in semen damage and prostate cancer in men, along with a host of other health concerns.
Some five years ago, the World Health Organization and United Nations reported on 15 ways that chemicals used in plastics, pesticides and flame retardants could affect babies from the womb to adulthood, including:
- IQ loss and intellectual disability
- Autism and attention-deficit disorder
- Childhood and adult obesity
- Low testosterone, male infertility and testicular dysfunction
- Endometriosis and fibroids in women.
The new analysis published Tuesday now adds another 17 such health impacts to the list and broadens the number of known chemicals involved.
What the new study found
- Evidence is particularly strong for relations between perfluoroalkyl substances and child and adult obesity, impaired glucose tolerance, gestational diabetes, reduced birthweight, reduced semen quality, polycystic ovarian syndrome, endometriosis, and breast cancer.
- Evidence also exists for relations between bisphenols and adult diabetes, reduced semen quality, and polycystic ovarian syndrome; phthalates and prematurity, reduced anogenital distance in boys, childhood obesity, and impaired glucose tolerance; organophosphate pesticides and reduced semen quality; and occupational exposure to pesticides and prostate cancer.
- Greater evidence has accumulated than was previously identified for cognitive deficits and attention-deficit disorder in children following prenatal exposure to bisphenol A, organophosphate pesticides, and polybrominated flame retardants.
- Although systematic evaluation is needed of the probability and strength of these exposure–outcome relations, the growing evidence supports urgent action to reduce exposure to EDCs.
PFAS do not degrade
One of the problems is that as soon as science identifies a potential chemical hazard and it is removed, industry creates another. If they are closely tied to the originals, the new chemicals can produce very similar health risks.
Take PFAS, for example, which are used to make nonstick cookware, stain-resistant clothes, infection-resistant surgical gowns and drapes, cell phones, semi-conductors, commercial aircraft and low-emissions vehicles.
PFAS are made up of a chain of linked carbon and fluorine atoms, which do not degrade in the environment.
