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http://www.asrm.org/Environmental_Chemicals_Harm_Reproductive_Health/

AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR REPRODUCTIVE MEDICINE

Highlights from Fertility and Sterility: Environmental Chemicals Harm Reproductive Health

September 24 , 2013
by: ASRM Office of Public Affairs
Published in ASRM Press Release

Ob-Gyns Advocate for Policy Changes to Protect Health

Washington, DC—Toxic chemicals in the environment harm our ability to reproduce, negatively affect pregnancies, and are associated with numerous other long-term health problems, according to The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (The College) and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). In a joint Committee Opinion, The College and ASRM urge ob-gyns to advocate for government policy changes to identify and reduce exposure to toxic environmental agents.

“Lawmakers should require the US Environmental Protection Agency and industry to define and estimate the dangers that aggregate exposure to harmful chemicals pose to pregnant women, infants, and children and act to protect these vulnerable populations,” said Jeanne A. Conry, MD, PhD, president of The College.

“Every pregnant woman in America is exposed to many different chemicals in the environment,” said Dr. Conry. “Prenatal exposure to certain chemicals is linked to miscarriages, stillbirths, and birth defects.” Many chemicals that pregnant women absorb or ingest from the environment can cross the placenta to the fetus. Exposure to mercury during pregnancy, for instance, is known to harm cognitive development in children.

The scientific evidence over the last 15 years shows that exposure to toxic environmental agents before conception and during pregnancy can have significant and long-lasting effects on reproductive health. “For example, pesticide exposure in men is associated with poor semen quality, sterility, and prostate cancer,” said Linda C. Giudice, MD, PhD, president of ASRM. “We also know that exposure to pesticides may interfere with puberty, menstruation and ovulation, fertility, and menopause in women.”

Other reproductive and health problems associated with exposure to toxic environmental agents:

* Miscarriage and stillbirth
* Impaired fetal growth and low birth weight
* Preterm birth
* Childhood cancers
* Birth defects
* Cognitive/intellectual impairment
* Thyroid problems

Approximately 700 new chemicals are introduced into the US market each year, and more than 84,000 chemical substances are being used in manufacturing and processing or are being imported.“The scary fact is that we don’t have safety data on most of these chemicals even though they are everywhere—in the air, water, soil, our food supply, and everyday products,” Dr. Conry said. “Bisphenol A (BPA), a hormone disruptor, is a common toxic chemical contained in our food, packaging, and many consumer products.”

“To successfully study the impact of these chemical exposures, we must shift the burden of proof from the individual health care provider and the consumer to the manufacturers before any chemicals are even released into the environment,” said Dr. Conry.

Certain groups of people and communities have higher exposures to harmful environmental chemicals than others. “For example, women exposed to toxic chemicals at work are at higher risk of reproductive health problems than other women,” Dr. Conry said. “Low-wage immigrants who work on farms have higher exposures to chemicals used on the crops that they harvest.”

“As reproductive health care physicians, we are in a unique position to help prevent prenatal exposure to toxic environmental agents by educating our patients about how to avoid them at home, in their community, and at work,” Dr. Giudice said.

What can physicians do?

* Learn about toxic environmental agents common in their community
* Educate patients on how to avoid toxic environmental agents
* Take environmental exposure histories during preconception and first prenatal visits
* Report identified environmental hazards to appropriate agencies
* Encourage pregnant and breastfeeding women and women in the preconception period to eat carefully washed fresh fruits and vegetables and avoid fish containing high levels of methyl-mercury (shark, swordfish, king mackerel, tilefish)
* Advance policies and practices that support a healthy food system
* Advocate for government policy changes to identify and reduce exposure to toxic environmental agents

“Exposure to Toxic Environmental Agents,” a committee opinion, is published in the October issue of Fertility and Sterility.

For examples of toxic environmental exposure patient history forms, go to http://prhe.ucsf.edu/prhe/clinical_resources.html

For the Breast Cancer Fund’s recent report on prenatal BPA exposure and breast cancer risk, see http://www.breastcancerfund.org/

The American Society for Reproductive Medicine, founded in 1944, is an organization of more than 7,000 physicians, researchers, nurses, technicians and other professionals dedicated to advancing knowledge and expertise in reproductive biology. Affiliated societies include the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology, the Society for Male Reproduction and Urology, the Society for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, the Society of Reproductive Surgeons and the Society of Reproductive Biologists and Technologists. www.asrm.org

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (The College), a 501(c)(3) organization, is the nation’s leading group of physicians providing health care for women. As a private, voluntary, nonprofit membership organization of approximately 57,000 members, The College strongly advocates for quality health care for women, maintains the highest standards of clinical practice and continuing education of its members, promotes patient education, and increases awareness among its members and the public of the changing issues facing women’s health care. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), a 501(c)(6) organization, is its companion organization. www.acog.org

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/09/23/environmental-chemicals-pregnancy-risk/2857753/
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/09/24/environmental-chemicals-pregnancy-risk-report-claims/

Report: Environmental chemicals pose pregnancy risk
Lauran Neergaard, Associated Press 6:38 p.m. EDT September 23, 2013

Certain chemicals are linked to infertility, miscarriages and birth defects.

From mercury to pesticides, Americans are exposed daily to environmental chemicals that could harm reproductive health, the nation's largest groups of obstetricians and fertility specialists said Monday.

The report urges doctors to push for stricter environmental policies to better identify and reduce exposure to chemicals that prove truly risky. But it's likely to scare pregnant women in the meantime.

That's because during the first prenatal visit, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists wants doctors to ask mothers-to-be about their exposure to different chemicals. They're also supposed to teach women how to avoid some considered most worrisome during pregnancy.

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The industry's American Chemistry Council said current environmental regulations offer enough consumer protection, and that the new report will create "confusion and alarm among expectant mothers" and distract them from proven steps for a healthy pregnancy.

http://www.pewhealth.org/other-resource/pew-examines-gaps-in-toxicity-data-for-chemicals-allowed-in-food-85899493633

Aug 14, 2013
Project: Food Additives Project

The peer-reviewed journal Reproductive Toxicology published a paper from The Pew Charitable Trusts' food additives project examining the data used to make safety recommendations for chemicals added to food sold in the United States. The analysis of three major sources of toxicology information found significant gaps in the data for chemicals that are added to food and food packaging.

Pew’s analysis reveals:

* The Food and Drug Administration or industry decided that almost two-thirds of known additives were safe without having fed the additives to lab animals. This is based on Pew’s analysis of data reported in FDA, National Institutes of Health, or other leading toxicology databases.

* FDA’s own database on chemicals added directly to food indicates that:

Only one in five chemicals has been evaluated using the simplest lab animal test recommended by FDA to evaluate safety.
Only one in eight chemicals that FDA recommended be evaluated for reproductive or development problems had evidence it was tested for these effects.

* The lack of data means that often we don’t know whether these chemicals pose a health risk to the hundreds of millions of Americans who eat food with untested chemical additives.

The paper analyzed and compared data from the FDA’s Priority-based Assessment of Food Additives database, the Accelrys Toxicity Database of chemical studies, and the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s TOXLINE database to determine what testing has been done.

The authors note that the current regulatory structure for food additive safety in the United States was approved by Congress in 1958 and allows manufacturers to add chemicals deemed "generally recognized as safe" or "GRAS," to food without review by the FDA. Manufacturers sometimes voluntarily report such safety decisions to FDA.

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http://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/nrdc-food-ingredient-approvals-96570.html
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=B846909A-A5E3-4A27-A8DA-631FD66F9DED

NRDC to launch attack on food ingredient approvals
By HELENA BOTTEMILLER EVICH | 9/10/13 4:30 PM EDT

The Natural Resources Defense Council is best known for climate activism and celebrity fundraisers, but now the environmental powerhouse is escalating its work in another area: food policy.

By hiring two top food additive researchers — Tom Neltner and Maricel Maffini — NRDC is positioning itself to launch an aggressive campaign for much stronger regulation around the way the Food and Drug Administration approves the use of those food ingredients you can’t pronounce.

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Both Neltner and Maffini are coming from the Pew Charitable Trusts, where they delivered a series of groundbreaking reports following a three-year study of the food additive approval process that wraps up this month. The Pew reports suggest the food industry has too much control over the way such ingredients as xanthan gum, maltodextrin and polyglutamic acid have been granted FDA’s generally recognized as safe, or GRAS, status, which allows them to be used in the food supply without agency approval.

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The group’s capstone report could be released as early as next week and is expected to call for reforms, which could include congressional action to give the FDA more authority.

NRDC is planning to use Pew’s research and recommendations as the framework for its advocacy campaign. However, where the Pew group might have taken a more cooperative approach to working with the food industry and regulatory agencies, NRDC isn’t likely to pull any punches. The organization has a long history of taking on controversial chemicals and creating headaches for industry, enlisting the help of such celebrities as Leonardo DiCaprio, Scarlett Johansson and Ke$ha in both fundraising and activism.

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NRDC will focus on “whatever works” to strengthen food additive oversight, Greer says. This could include a mix of litigation, lobbying Congress and the FDA, and “playing the outside game,” which means reaching out directly to consumers and working with state and local groups to push their agendas forward.

MORE.

http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2013/09/17/worcester-man-who-wanted-cannibalize-children-sentenced-years-federal-prison/KesjSC95x0k1M4F9fbDG4L/story.html

Worcester man who wanted to cannibalize children sentenced to 27 years in federal prison

09/17/2013 5:01 PM
By David Abel and John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

WORCESTER - Child pornographer Geoffrey Portway, who asked a Kansas man to kidnap a child for him so he could torture, kill, cook, and eat the child in a sound-proof dungeon he built in his basement, today was sentenced to nearly 27 years in federal prison.

Portway, a 40-year-old citizen of the United Kingdom, was also ordered to pay $15,000 in restitution to five children he victimized as part of his participation in the dissemination of child pornography that included 5,700 documented times he shared images with others, according to court records.

In court, Assistant US Attorney Stacy Dawson Belf said Portway was a man determined to torture and cannibalize children, but defense attorney Richard Sweeney said the Worcester resident was a man with “issues’’ who only engaged in fantasy role-playing on the Internet.

But Belf told US District Court Judge Timothy Hillman that investigators from the US Department of Homeland Security were fortunate to have discovered Portway through a sweeping child pornography investigation when they did.

“The seriousness of these crimes cannot be overstated,’’ she said in court. “He sought to kidnap, rape, cannibalize and murder a child. He makes clear that he is not about role playing. He was caught by investigators in the nick of time.’’

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http://www.canarykidsmovie.com

http://vimeo.com/60780290

http://www.rescuepost.com/files/j-child-neurol-2013-herbert-and-buckley-0883073813488668-1.pdf

Autism and Dietary Therapy : Case Report and Review of the Literature
Martha R. Herbert and Julie A. Buckley
J Child Neurol published online 10 May 2013 DOI: 10.1177/0883073813488668

http://najms.net/wp-content/uploads/v06i03.pdf#page=34

Preface to the special issue of autism

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the fastest-growing complex neurodevelopment disorder, continues to rise in its prevalence, now affecting up to 1 in 50 children in the USA, and averaging 1% globally, according to the latest CDC report. More children will be diagnosed with ASD this year than with AIDS, diabetes & cancer combined in the USA. ASD costs the nation $137 billion a year and this debt is expected to increase in the next decade. Hence, ASD has become a huge healthcare burden and global threat, categorized by the CDC as a national public health crisis.

ASD is characterized by social-communication impairment, and restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior, which cause significant disability for those affected. With its etiology still largely unknown, and its pathophysiology poorly understood, ASD currently has no universally accepted therapy. ASD is affecting more and more families; unmet services and limited resources need to be addressed urgently. Researchers, clinicians, healthcare providers, social agencies and government need to coordinate efforts to develop more effective treatments and a satisfactory continuum of care, across the lifespan. Ultimately, a cure needs to be sought for the various subtypes of ASD that exist.

The current issue of North American Journal of Medicine and Science (NAJMS) represents a continuation of our previous two special issues on autism (NAJMS Vol. 5 Issue 3 and Vol. 4 Issue 3) published in July 2012 and July 2011, respectively. In this issue, we are honored to have another panel of expert researchers and clinicians on the frontlines of ASD research and treatment to present their newest research findings and views from different perspectives.

This issue of NAJMS consists of five original research articles, two comprehensive reviews, one case report and two commentary articles, covering topics in genetics, pathogenesis, metabolic disorder biomarkers of ASD, and a clinical study, that bring into focus our newest understanding and treatment strategies.

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The data presented in Dr. Mumper’s review of the medical literature, suggests that ASD may be impacted by environmental toxicants, duration of breastfeeding, gut flora composition, nutritional status, acetaminophen use, vaccine practices and use of antibiotics and/or frequency of infections. In her current general pediatric practice (Advocates for Children), she has noted a modest trend toward a lower prevalence of ASD than in her previous pediatric practice or recent prevalence estimates from the CDC.

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Xuejun Kong, MD
Editor-in-Chief, NAJMS
Department of Medicine
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Harvard Medical School

Christopher J. McDougle, MD
Guest Editor, NAJMS
Lurie Center for Autism Massachusetts General Hospital
Harvard Medical School

http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_28286.cfm

NRDC to Launch Attack on Food Ingredient Approvals

By Helena Bottemiller Evich
Politico, September 10, 2013

The Natural Resources Defense Council is best known for climate activism and celebrity fundraisers, but now the environmental powerhouse is escalating its work in another area: food policy.

By hiring two top food additive researchers - Tom Neltner and Maricel Maffini - NRDC is positioning itself to launch an aggressive campaign for much stronger regulation around the way the Food and Drug Administration approves the use of those food ingredients you can't pronounce.

<>

Both Neltner and Maffini are coming from the Pew Charitable Trusts, where they delivered a series of groundbreaking reports following a three-year study of the food additive approval process that wraps up this month. The Pew reports suggest the food industry has too much control over the way such ingredients as xanthan gum, maltodextrin and polyglutamic acid have been granted FDA's generally recognized as safe, or GRAS, status, which allows them to be used in the food supply without agency approval.

Overall, there are about 10,000 chemicals allowed in food products, about 43 percent of which have been deemed generally recognized as safe, according to Pew.

The group's most recent report, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found "ubiquitous" conflicts of interest in GRAS determinations. Researchers looked at the 451 GRAS notifications that companies voluntarily submitted to FDA between 1997 and 2012 and found that nearly two-thirds of those safety assessments were made by an expert panel selected by the manufacturer or a consulting firm. About a fifth of those assessments were made by an employee of an additive manufacturer.

One of the issues highlighted by Pew is that companies are not required to notify FDA about their decision, and oftentimes they don't. FDA does not have a list or database of all the chemicals that can be used in food.

Pew has published two other peer-reviewed studies in recent months: one that found gaps in toxicology data for food additives and another that found FDA has not acted on a significant portion of the recommendations made by its own expert panel in 1983.

MORE.

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