Chemicals may damage male babies

http://www.healthsentinel.com/news.p...st_item&id=871

"Chemicals may damage male babies", BBC News, May 27, 2005,
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4585603.stm

Chemicals found in many everyday products can harm male reproductive
development, research suggests.

Phthalates are used in the manufacture of plastics, lubricants and
solvents, and are found in cosmetics, medical equipment, toys, paints
and packaging.

The University of Rochester team, New York, found exposure to the
chemicals was linked to an higher risk of genital abnormalities in baby
boys.

The study features in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

Previous research on animals has suggested phthalates may damage
reproductive development by disrupting hormone levels.

But until now evidence of a similar effect on humans has proved
inconclusive.

The Rochester team, who examined 134 boys, found women with higher
levels of phthalate-related chemicals in their blood were more likely
to give birth to boys with undescended, or small testicles, small
penises, or a shorter distance than usual between the genitals and
anus.

It did not take exceptional levels of exposure to produce an effect -
abnormalities were found in women exposed to levels below those found
in a quarter of US women.

Lead researcher Professor Shanna Swan said: "We were able to show, even
with our relatively small sample, that exposed boys were likely to
display a cluster of genital changes."

Professor Richard Sharpe, of the Medical Research Council's Human
Reproductive Science Unit in Edinburgh, said more work was needed to
confirm the results.

But he told BBC News website: "It is significant. It is the first piece
of evidence that we have that phthalates may cause adverse effects on
reproductive development in human foetuses."

Wide-ranging effects

Professor Sharpe said the chemicals appeared to suppress production of
the male sex hormone testosterone.

"Testosterone is absolutely critical to development - most of the
things that make males different to females are down to pre-natal
exposure to the hormone.

"It is not just the effect on genital development, but also on tissues
throughout the body, including the brain."

The conservation group WWF, which campaigns against harmful
environmental chemicals, described the findings as "startling".

Gwynne Lyons, toxics advisor to WWF UK, said: "This research highlights
the need for tougher controls of gender bending chemicals.

"At the moment regulation of the chemicals industry is woefully
inadequate, and something needs to be done about this immediately."

The government is looking at how the regulation of hormone-disrupting
chemicals could be made more effective under a new EU chemicals law.

Several types of phthalates have already been banned.