OT: UCLA study: U.S. women at greater risk from Teflon chemical

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UCLA study: U.S. women at greater risk from Teflon chemical

http://www.thecanaryreport.org/2009/01/29/ucla-study-us-women-at-greater-risk-fr\

om-teflon-chemical/

January 29, 2009 by Susie  

Infertility jumps dramatically among those with high exposures

From the Environmental Working Group:

WASHINGTON - A major new study published yesterday in Human Reproduction, a

European reproductive medicine journal, has found that pregnant women and women

of child-bearing age in the United States are at greater risk than previously

thought for infertility and reproductive problems as result of exposure to the

toxic Teflon chemical PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid).

Analyzing data from about 1,240 women from a well-known Danish longitudinal

study initiated in 1996, a team of scientists based at the University of

California-Los Angeles has found that women with elevated blood levels of PFOA

experienced more difficulties in conceiving and were twice as likely to be

diagnosed with infertility as women with lower PFOA body burdens. For women with

more than 3.9 parts per billion (ppb) of PFOA in their bodies, the chances of

conceiving were dramatically reduced.

“These findings are quite alarming, but not completely unexpected given the

complete lack of health protections from chemicals like PFOA,” said

Environmental Working Group (EWG) Senior Scientist Olga Naidenko, Ph.D. “Until

we reform the nation’s chemical laws, we should expect to discover more and more

links between chemical exposures and serious health conditions like infertility,

childhood cancer, learning disabilities and asthma.”

“The UCLA team’s findings provide important new evidence that drastic declines

in fertility rates in both the U.S. and Europe in recent decades may be linked

to exposure to toxic chemicals, including PFOA, ” Naidenko said. “These alarming

findings reinforce the need for strict regulation of PFOA and related chemicals,

as well as other industrial chemicals whose impact on humans and the environment

may be subtle but ultimately devastating.”

The chemical PFOA is a member of a class of industrial chemicals known as

perfluorochemicals (PFCs). Chemicals in the PFC class are found in a wide range

of consumer products, including water, stain and grease repellants, cookware,

food wrap, carpeting, furniture and clothing. Products containing PFCs are

marketed under such trade names as Teflon, Scotchguard, Stainmaster and Goretex.

A June 2008 study by the Environmental Working Group entitled Credibility Gap:

Toxic Chemicals in Food Packaging and DuPont’s Greenwashing: EWG’s Guide to PFCs

contains a downloadable consumer guide to consumer products that contain PFCs

and other advice on how to avoid products containing the chemical.

Studies by EWG and other scientists have demonstrated that PFOA exposure begins

in the womb. EWG’s benchmark study, Body Burden: The Pollution in Newborns, an

analysis of umbilical cord blood, found 287 industrial chemicals and pollutants

in 10 newborns, among them PFOA and other PFCs.

EWG’s studies dovetail with U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

investigations that detected PFOA in the bodies of nearly all Americans over 12,

with average levels of 3.9 ppb. The chemical has contaminated drinking water,

food, and surface and ground water in at least 11 states.

In the human body, PFOA is extraordinarily persistent, accumulating 100-fold and

detectable for years, with the potential to act through a broad range of toxic

mechanisms to pose potential harm to numerous organs. Research has shown that

PFOA can disrupt fetal development, hormonal function and the immune system and

increase the risk of heart disease and cancer. Contamination of the food and

water supply has the potential to damage the reproductive systems of a large

number of women of child-bearing age nationwide.

EWG’s work has resulted in an international effort to phase out use of PFOA and

legal victories against major manufacturers of the chemical.

Yet more comprehensive protections are critical to protect the public from

industrial pollutants. Harmful human exposures to industrial toxins such as PFOA

and PFCs are a consequence of weak legal safeguards, particularly the 1976 Toxic

Substances Control Act, which grandfathered 62,000 chemicals and allowed

industry to bring 20,000 more chemicals into the marketplace with little nor no

data to support their safety. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has

lacked the legal power and funding to test the vast majority of man-made

chemicals that, like PFOA, may turn out to be reproductive toxicants or trigger

other serious diseases and conditions.

EWG is urging Congress to overhaul and modernize U.S. policy on man-made toxins

by adopting policy principles similar to those included in the Kid-Safe

Chemicals Act championed by Sen. Lautenberg, Sen. Barbara Boxer, and Rep.

Henry Waxman. The Kid-Safe bill would place the burden on chemical companies to

prove that their products are safe before they enter the marketplace.

Earlier this month, in the waning days of the Bush administration, EPA made

plans to issue an emergency health advisory for tap water polluted with PFOA.

The advisory, if adopted without change by EPA, would set a non-binding standard

of .4 micrograms per liter for PFOA. According to an EWG analysis, such a

standard would effectively allow a significant level of pollution and discourage

cleanup of PFOA contamination in tap water in at least 9 states.

Environmental Working Group is a nonprofit research organization based in

Washington, DC that uses the power of information to protect human health and

the environment.

 

Photo by Mahalie