An international team of experts reported today that evidence linking hormone-mimicking chemicals to human health problems has grown stronger over the past decade, becoming a "global threat" that should be addressed.

The report is a joint effort by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme to give policymakers the latest information on chemicals that alter the hormones of people and wildlife. 

Much has changed since 2002 when WHO and the UN released a report that called the evidence linking endocrine-disrupting chemicals to human health impacts “weak.”

The panel of 16 scientists from 10 nations in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia found that endocrine-related diseases and disorders are on the rise. There is now “emerging evidence for adverse reproductive outcomes” and “mounting evidence" for effects on thyroids, brains and metabolism, according to the report summary.

“Over the past decade, we know much better that chronic diseases, ones related to the endocrine system, are increasing globally,” said Thomas Zoeller, a professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and a co-author of the report.

Such diseases include male reproductive problems, pregnancy complications, certain cancers, obesity and brain development. Many factors can cause such diseases, but the report concludes that given how fast some of these are rising, environmental chemicals are likely playing a role.

Fetuses, babies and young children “are not just little adults” and are the most vulnerable to hormone-altering chemicals since their bodies are still developing, the authors wrote.

Zoeller said the goal of the report is to update world leaders on a topic that is complex and, at times, controversial.

A decade ago the biggest threat was thought to be persistent organic pollutant chemicals – such as DDT and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). These chemicals – now banned in the United States -- traveled the globe, persisted in the environment and caused severe population declines in some wildlife species.

Such contaminants still pose a threat. However, less persistent but more ubiquitous chemicals found in everyday products – such as bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates – now are increasingly linked to human health problems.

“These chemicals are what we call ‘pseudo persistent,” said Tracey Woodruff, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco, and a report co-author. “They don’t stay in the environment long but people are exposed to them all the time so it’s the same effect as if they were persistent.”

The report points to previous regulations, such as the 2000 U.S. restrictions on chloropyrifos, as an option to protect people. After the pesticide was banned from residential use, children’s blood levels in New York were cut in half within two years. Also, lead bans greatly reduced children’s exposure.

To avoid prolonged exposures in the future, the panel reported that perhaps countries should “ban or restrict chemicals in order to reduce exposure early, even when there are significant but incomplete data.”

“Frankly, for BPA, the science is done. Flame retardants, phthalates … the science is done,” Zoeller said. “We have more than enough information on these chemicals to make the reasonable decision to ban, or at least take steps to limit exposure.”

But government agencies and industry groups remain unconvinced.

The American Chemistry Council, which represents chemical companies, has repeatedly questioned the validity of studies linking two of the most pervasive endocrine disruptors -- BPA and phthalates.

7 Comments

1. 1. karenalcott 04:49 PM 2/19/13

   The Wiki on Menarche refers to several studies that show enviromental chemical exposures as one factor in the drop in age of menarche and increased BMI as another.
   "Most sources agree that the average age of menarche in girls in modern societies has declined, though the reasons and the degree remain subjects of controversy. A decline in the average age of menarche from 17 to 13 in Europe from 1850 to 1960 is well documented, but a large North American survey reported only a 2-3 month decline from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s".
   If child hood obesity is both a contributing factor in early menarche and a symptom of this sort of chemical exposure; then endocrine disruptors are a double whammy. I have also seen studies that are tracking a drop in male sperm counts, in reproductive age men, during this same time frame. Are these related phenomena? And what happens if the chemical industry changes our reproductive cycles, right when modern societies need their young adults to put off reproduction in order to get an extended education, in order to support their own children?

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2. 2. txbodhi 11:32 PM 2/19/13

   People who doubt this harm by toxic hormones in corporate products are robot like humans programmed by evil companies owned by the cabal cult of super rich banking families. Many independent scientists have proven this toxic effect.

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3. 3. lipovictor 07:24 PM 2/21/13

   Chemicals used in agriculture cause obesity. Pesticides and fertilizers allow abundant and cheap food.

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4. 4. rlh2012 11:56 PM 2/25/13

   interesting

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5. 5. johnson 06:25 PM 2/27/13

   There is a recent article in the Wall Street Journal titled: "No ill effect found in human BPA exposure" by Robert Lee Hotz. Says the exposure levels are thousands of times too low to affect the human body. and concludes: "The World Health Organization, the European Food Safety Authority, and Japan's National Institutes of Advanced Industrial Sciene and Technology have all dicounted its risk to human health."

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6. 6. Dennis2sheds 12:05 PM 2/28/13

   For some reason the Wall Street Journal is reporting more like Fox News. Care to guess why.

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7. 7. johnson in reply to Dennis2sheds 01:03 PM 2/28/13

   I know: I just threw this out there for something interesting...

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