Dramatic
increases in exposure to toxic chemicals in the last four decades
are threatening human reproduction and health, according to the
International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), the
first global reproductive health organization to take a stand on
human exposure to toxic chemicals.
The opinion was written by obstetrician-gynecologists and scientists
from the major global, US, UK and Canadian reproductive health
professional societies, the World Health Organization and the
University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).
FIGO, which represents obstetricians from 125 countries and
territories, published the opinion in the International Journal of
Gynecology and Obstetrics on Oct. 1, 2015, just prior to its Oct. 4
to 9, 2015, world congress in Vancouver, BC, where more than 7,000
clinicians and scientists will explore global trends in women's
health issues.
"We are drowning our world in untested and unsafe chemicals, and the
price we are paying in terms of our reproductive health is of
serious concern," said Gian Carlo Di Renzo, MD, PhD, Honorary
Secretary of FIGO and lead author of the FIGO opinion. According to
Di Renzo, reproductive health professionals "witness first-hand the
increasing numbers of health problems facing their patients, and
preventing exposure to toxic chemicals can reduce this burden on
women, children and families around the world."
Miscarriage and still birth, impaired fetal growth, congenital
malformations, impaired or reduced neurodevelopment and cognitive
function, and an increase in cancer, attention problems, ADHD
behaviors and hyperactivity are among the list of poor health
outcomes linked to chemicals such as pesticides, air pollutants,
plastics, solvents and more, according to the FIGO opinion.
"What FIGO is saying is that physicians need to do more than simply
advise patients about the health risks of chemical exposure," said
Jeanne A. Conry, MD, PhD, a co-author of the FIGO opinion and past
president of the American College of Obstetricians and
Gynecologists, which issued an opinion on chemicals and reproductive
health in 2013. "We need to advocate for policies that will protect
our patients and communities from the dangers of involuntary
exposure to toxic chemicals."
Chemical manufacturing is expected to grow fastest in developing
countries in the next five years, according to FIGO. In the U.S.
alone, more than 30,000 pounds of chemicals per person are
manufactured or imported, and yet the vast majority of these
chemicals have not been tested. Chemicals travel the globe via
international trade agreements, such as the Transatlantic Trade and
Investment Partnership, which is being negotiated between the
European Union and the United States. Environmental and health
groups have criticized the proposed agreement for weakening controls
and regulations designed to protect communities from toxic
chemicals.
"Exposure to chemicals in the air, food and water supplies
disproportionately affect poor people," said Linda Giudice, MD, PhD,
MSc, a FIGO opinion co-author, past president of the American
Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) and chair of the UCSF
department of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences. "In
developing countries, lower respiratory infections are more than
twice as likely to be caused by chemical exposures than in developed
countries."
Exposure to toxic environmental chemicals is linked to millions of
deaths and costs billions of dollars every year, according to the
FIGO opinion, which cites the following examples:
Nearly 4 million people die each year because of exposure to indoor
and outdoor air pollution as well as to lead.
• Pesticide poisonings of farmworkers in sub-Saharan Africa is
estimated to cost $66 billion between 2005-2020.
• Health care and other costs from exposure to endocrine disrupting
chemicals in Europe are estimated to be at a minimum of 157 billion
Euros a year.
• The cost of childhood diseases related to environmental toxins and
pollutants in air, food, water, soil and in homes and neighborhoods
was calculated to be $76.6 billion in 2008 in the United States.
"Given accumulating evidence of adverse health impacts related to
toxic chemicals, including the potential for inter-generational
harm, FIGO has wisely proposed a series of recommendations that
health professionals can adopt to reduce the burden of unsafe
chemicals on patients and communities," said FIGO President
Sabaratnam Arulkumaran, MBBS, who is also past president of the
British Medical Association.
FIGO proposes that physicians, midwives, and other reproductive
health professionals advocate for policies to prevent exposure to
toxic environmental chemicals; work to ensure a healthy food system
for all; make environmental health part of health care; and champion
environmental justice.
