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posted by martyb on Sunday July 26 2020, @12:01PM   Printer-friendly

As Evidence of 'Hormone Disruptor' Chemical Threats Grows, Experts Call for Stricter Regulation:

A growing number of chemicals in pesticides, flame retardants, and certain plastics have been linked to widespread health problems including infertility in women and men, diabetes, and impaired brain development, a set of reviews of hundreds of studies concludes.

[...] Published online July 21 in the journal The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, the new reports focused on the health concerns and regulations to control "chemicals of concern," endocrine disruptors common in industrial and household goods. These include perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), toxins found in nonstick pans and waterproof clothing, and bisphenols, substances used in many plastics and can linings.

Exposure to certain chemicals found in industrial and household goods has been linked in new studies to obesity; to endometriosis, a painful and abnormal growth of tissue on the outside of the womb; and to polycystic ovary syndrome, a significant cause of infertility.

The recent reviews add 17 ties between certain medical conditions and endocrine disruptors to a list of 15 others already identified by a 2015 joint investigation led by the United Nations and the World Health Organization. For example, new findings suggest that PFAS, bisphenols, and certain pesticides may damage semen. In addition, the review identifies numerous new studies that link brain-related health concerns, such as IQ loss and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), to flame retardants and chemicals found in certain pesticides.

Journal Reference:
Linda G Kahn, Claire Philippat, Shoji F Nakayama, et al. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals: implications for human health, The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology (DOI: 10.1016/S2213-8587(20)30129-7)

Christopher D Kassotis, Laura N Vandenberg, Barbara A Demeneix, et al. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals: economic, regulatory, and policy implications, The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology (DOI: 10.1016/S2213-8587(20)30128-5)


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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Sunday July 26 2020, @03:48PM (8 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday July 26 2020, @03:48PM (#1026598) Journal

    It has been demonstrated that our plastic is literally everywhere in the environment. It is no stretch to wonder about all the poisons we dump into the environment every year. Our parents and grandparents went crazy over DDT when it was shown that DDT affected our avian friends. But, today, we just accept any poison that Bayer and the rest dump on us.

    WTF is wrong with us?

    I'm not even a manmade global warming alarmist, but I understand pollution. If Baby is toddling around, and finds a bucket of the shit, will it kill her when she ingests it? DERP!! Maybe we shouldn't be using it indiscriminately?

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 26 2020, @04:43PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 26 2020, @04:43PM (#1026615)

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDT#Initial_effectiveness [wikipedia.org]
    Some say that protecting our avian friends by banning it, coincidentally doomed some tens of millions of our own species to sickness and early death. While a preference for friendly avians over indifferent humans is totally understandable, this other side of the equation deserves to be acknowledged. Protecting the environment from us humans, bears a cost on us humans.

    • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday July 26 2020, @04:59PM (1 child)

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday July 26 2020, @04:59PM (#1026623) Journal

      this other side of the equation deserves to be acknowledged.

      Acknowledged.

      Yes, I'm aware of the controversy surrounding the ban. There are even those who insist that DDT wasn't the culprit, in regards to thin/fragile eggshells. For myself, I'm satisfied that DDT was bad for the environment, and that the ban was the right thing to do.

      • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 26 2020, @09:18PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 26 2020, @09:18PM (#1026765)

        If only they'd banned it before . . . what year were you born?

    • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Monday July 27 2020, @02:58PM

      by Immerman (3985) on Monday July 27 2020, @02:58PM (#1027117)

      >Protecting the environment from us humans, bears a cost on us humans.

      True, but it's nothing compared to the cost to humans of NOT protecting the environment from us humans.

      Humans are part of the environment - if the environment sickens or dies, so do we.

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 26 2020, @06:59PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 26 2020, @06:59PM (#1026692)

    WTF is wrong with us?

    We allowed all industries to learn from the tobacco industry. They learned how to manipulate public opinion. How to misdirect and add doubt that their poisons were responsible for anything for long enough to entrench themselves. How to continue existing even in the face of overwhelming evidence against their poisons.

    • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Tuesday July 28 2020, @02:08PM

      by Immerman (3985) on Tuesday July 28 2020, @02:08PM (#1027612)

      I think the tobacco people learned a lot from the leaded gasoline people - that's really the first large-scale case of "scientists" whoring out their credentials to advance a narrative they knew was a lie.

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by darkfeline on Sunday July 26 2020, @10:09PM (1 child)

    by darkfeline (1030) on Sunday July 26 2020, @10:09PM (#1026809) Homepage

    >Our parents and grandparents went crazy over...

    >WTF is wrong with us?

    Our parents and grandparents did a poor job of raising us. Let this be a reminder that if you truly want to plan for the long term, education is the most important thing to get right. You can get everything else right, but if you fuck up education, everything will start going to shit in ~20 years.

    --
    Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Immerman on Monday July 27 2020, @03:00PM

      by Immerman (3985) on Monday July 27 2020, @03:00PM (#1027120)

      Hence the danger of allowing Texas to de-facto dictate the content of textbooks used nationwide.