Molly M. Ginty has posted a two part series at Women’s eNews about the effects of environmental pollution on females and reproduction: Female Troubles for Wildlife Raise Human Worries and Hereditary Toxins Spur Scientific Concerns. Below is an excerpt from the second article:
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).
Recent studies have detected these pesticides, plastics and polymers not only in umbilical cord blood, but in the placenta, in human milk and in the bloodstreams and body fat of infants.
Though some of these chemicals pass through body systems in a matter of days, they maintain a long-term presence because exposure is constant.
Scientists say women are especially sensitive to synthetic chemicals because these substances can interfere with female hormone cycles and because they adhere to body fat that is more prevalent in women than in men.
In 2007, California will launch the nation’s first statewide, voluntary biomonitoring program to measure chemical contaminants in people and find out which pollutants are most common in the state’s residents.
Via Our Bodies, Our Blog.
