Wednesday, May 21, 1997
SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS
Pesticide Found in Amniotic Fluid
DDE May Disrupt Hormones, Immunity
Is it an exaggeration to suggest that the chemical industry is conducting a large-scale experiment on humanity?
Not if you consider the news that an endocrine-disrupting pesticide has been detected in the amniotic fluid of women living in the Los Angeles area. The pesticide is DDE, a waste product of DDT, known to interfere with male sexual development by disrupting the activity of the hormone testosterone.
Though DDT has been banned for more than 20 years in North America, it continues to be used in many developing nations and some experts say that prevailing winds carry it around the globe. Its presence has long been recognized in the bloodstream and tissues of all living animals and humans, but this is the first time that it has ever been measured in amniotic fluid.
The implications are stunning. During their nine months of gestation, fetuses live in a bath of amniotic fluid—a brew, basically, of fetal urine that babies swallow, reabsorb and excrete two to three times a day. Except that now this fluid contains something else.
DDE can bind to and inactivate testosterone, which plays an important role in the sexual development of boys. Male fetuses tend to have about twice as much testosterone in their blood as females, but concentrations of DDE in some samples of amniotic fluid approached the level of testosterone normally found in female fetal blood.
U.S. and Canadian researchers announced their findings—measurable levels in 30 percent of the amniotic fluid samples taken from 41 pregnant women at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles—at a meeting of the Endocrine Society in June.
The researchers have expressed concern that such levels could have a long-term effect on male development and reproductive health. Another concern is that amniotic fluid may act as a long-term reservoir for chemicals that usually flush through an adult body within a few days.
“We don&146;t expect there to be some terrible sky-high rate of gross malformations—no cleft palates, no gross limbs,” said Dr. Claude Hughes, one of the study&146;s lead authors, speaking by phone from his office at Cedars-Sinai.
“The sorts of things you might expect to be changed are patterns of learning,” said Hughes, an endocrinologist, “because brain development depends on various hormones. There may be changes in thyroid and growth hormones, changes in immune function and the risk of infection, changes in behavior.”
The study&146;s authors have also speculated that the presence of these pesticides in amniotic fluid may play a serious role in suppressing or blocking the body&146;s natural hormones.
“What impact does that have on the developing fetus?” asked Warren Foster, the lead author. “It could have an effect upon the baby&146;s development, such as masculinization; however, it&146;s speculation at this point.”
In the last couple of years, numerous reports have documented a disturbing increase in abnormal sexual development among boys. In 1997, for instance, Canadian researchers reported a statistically significant disproportion of baby girls born in the United States and Canada from 1970 to 1990. Several analyses have reported a steady decline in sperm counts in the United States and Europe over the last 50 years, and in 1997, the Centers for Disease Control reported a doubling in the occurrence of hypospadia, a birth defect of the penis, from 1968 to 1993.
Some environmentalists have argued that reports such as these are the direct result of industrial pollution.
What can you do to protect your fetus?
Reduce your fat intake; chemicals dissolve in fat. Wash and peel your fruits and vegetables; chemical residues can remain on these foods. And quit smoking; most epidemiological studies show smokers to be at higher risk of environmental contaminants than non-smokers.
Copyright 1997 San Jose Mercury News
