Wednesday, February 20, 2013

"State of the Science of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals, 2012


Man-made chemicals cited in health scourges: UN report By Robert Evans Reuters Feb 19, 2013 http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/02/19/us-chemicals-idUKBRE91I0NJ20130219

(Excerpted) - Man-made chemicals in everyday products are likely to be at least the partial cause of a global surge in birth deformities, hormonal cancers and psychiatric diseases, a U.N.-sponsored research team reported on Tuesday.

These substances, dubbed EDCs, could also be linked to a decline in the human male sperm count and female fertility, to an increase in once-rare childhood cancers and to the disappearance of some animal species, they said.

"It is clear that some of these chemical pollutants can affect the endocrinal (hormonal) system and ....may also interfere with the development processes of humans and wildlife species," the report declared...

...The team, created by a 17-year-old chemical management body called the IOMC working with a range of U.N. agencies, said a key problem was that manufacturers of consumer products did not identify many of their chemical components.

Consequently, the researchers said, they had only been able to look at "the tip of the iceberg". Disease risk from the use of EDCs - or what could be even more dangerous a combination of them - "may be significantly underestimated."

Majia here: The actual report can be found here http://www.who.int/ceh/publications/endocrine/en/


"State of the Science of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals, 2012"

[excerpted] Now, in 2012, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and WHO present an update of the IPCS (2002) document, entitled State of the Science of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals—2012. This document provides the global status of scientific knowledge on exposure to and effects of EDCs....
 
Key concerns
 

• Human and wildlife health depends on the ability
to reproduce and develop normally. This is not
possible without a healthy endocrine system.
 

• Three strands of evidence fuel concerns over
endocrine disruptors:
 

◦ the high incidence and the increasing trends of
many endocrine-related disorders in humans;


◦ observations of endocrine-related effects in wildlife
populations;


◦ the identification of chemicals with endocrine
disrupting properties linked to disease outcomes in
laboratory studies.


• Many endocrine-related diseases and disorders are
on the rise.

 

◦ Large proportions (up to 40%) of young men in
some countries have low semen quality, which
reduces their ability to father children.
 

◦ The incidence of genital malformations, such as
non-descending testes (cryptorchidisms) and penile
malformations (hypospadias), in baby boys has
increased over time or levelled off at unfavourably
high rates.
 

◦ The incidence of adverse pregnancy outcomes,
such as preterm birth and low birth weight, has
increased in many countries.
 

◦ Neurobehavioural disorders associated with thyroid
disruption affect a high proportion of children
in some countries and have increased over past
decades.


◦ Global rates of endocrine-related cancers (breast,
endometrial, ovarian, prostate, testicular and
thyroid) have been increasing over the past 40–50
years.
 

◦ There is a trend towards earlier onset of breast
development in young girls in all countries where
this has been studied. This is a risk factor for breast
cancer.
 

◦ The prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes has
dramatically increased worldwide over the last 40
years. WHO estimates that 1.5 billion adults worldwide
are overweight or obese and that the number
with type 2 diabetes increased from 153 million to
347 million between 1980 and 2008.

 

• Close to 800 chemicals are known or suspected
to be capable of interfering with hormone
receptors, hormone synthesis or hormone
conversion. However, only a small fraction of these
chemicals have been investigated in tests capable
of identifying overt endocrine effects in intact
organisms.


◦ The vast majority of chemicals in current commercial
use have not been tested at all.
 

 ◦ This lack of data introduces significant uncertainties
about the true extent of risks from chemicals
that potentially could disrupt the endocrine system....

 

• Human and wildlife populations all over the world
are exposed to EDCs.

 

 ◦ There is global transport of many known and
potential EDCs through natural processes as well as
...

1 comment:

  1. The bigger question is why there is an almost universal blindness in medicine towards radiation as a causative factor? When radiation is a documented causation?

    And the even bigger question is why are the efforts of medicine predisposed to tertiary treatment with pharmaceuticals instead of prevention? Where's the systems thinking in our supposedly advanced western medicine? Pfffft.

    http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/18/susan-loves-illness-gives-new-focus-to-her-cause/

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