Common Pesticide May Reduce Fertility in Women

[Southpaw Bookworm]

Today's irony alert: This chemical was promoted as a "safe" alternative to DDT. When will we learn that none of these toxic soups can be thought of as safe? Can we retroactively go back and smack with a two-by-four all those who called Rachel Carson an alarmist?

Methoxychlor (MXC), a common insect pesticide used on food crops, may interfere with proper development and function of the reproductive tract, leading to reduced fertility in women, researchers at Yale School of Medicine write in the August issue of Endocrinology.

The researchers found that MXC, which was manufactured as a safer replacement for the now-banned DDT, alters the estrogen-regulated gene Hoxa10 in the reproductive tract and reduces the ability of the uterus to support embryo implantation. The researchers used mice and then human cell lines to confirm their findings.

MXC is a man-made pesticide used to kill flies, mosquitoes, cockroaches and other insects, and is applied directly to food crops, livestock, home gardens and pets. It is one of a large number of chemicals that can mimic the action of hormones and in some instances interfere with endocrine function.

Some of these endocrine disruptors bind estrogen receptors and adversely affect reproductive tract development, which is heavily influenced by estrogen. MXC and other chemicals like DDT have been shown in other studies to induce abnormalities in tissue development and function in the female reproductive tract. "MXC has an adverse effect on these mice similar to that of DES, a synthetic estrogen," said senior author Hugh S. Taylor, M.D., associate professor in the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at Yale School of Medicine. "Female offspring of women exposed to DES were more likely to have an abnormally shaped cervix, were more prone to cancer of the vagina, miscarriages, early labor and other complications."

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=30477&nfid=rssfeeds

[KT2000]

1. Endocrine disuption

by commercial chemicals is altering human beings and animals in ways we have yet to even consider.
Industry is still fighting required testing for endocrine disruptions potential of their products.

Those working to protect children have already found that saving children is not enough of a plea to get action. It takes quanitying the problem in terms of dollars. This study puts the cost of fertility treatments on the table - not the protection of people I am sad to say.

[Southpaw Bookworm]

2. Huge concern

Within the past year, two studies of fish in the Potomac River (one near the headwaters and another closer to the Chesapeake) have shown male fish that are also developing female reproductive organs. The presumed causes are fertilizer runoff from agricultural areas and waste from chicken farms where the poultry receives hormone pills.

What horrors are being wrought in the name of industry? You are so right about industry fighting efforts to explore these issues. Even the federal government is hesitant: Look at the EPA's reluctance to study environmental causes of cancer.

[KT2000]

3. Yes - consider the implications

of endocrine disruption on the developing brain of fetuses. We have no idea what is being created. As it is the epidemic of neurological dysfunctions in children rates barely a peep - just special ed classes.