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Reproductive Health = Environmental Health

It’s All Connected Charlotte Brody, RN. Reproductive Health = Environmental Health. • What ’ s the problem? • Why do we think the problem has anything to do with chemicals? • Why has it take us so long to figure this out? • What do we do now?. What’s the problem?.

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Reproductive Health = Environmental Health

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  1. It’s All Connected Charlotte Brody, RN Reproductive Health = Environmental Health

  2. • What’s the problem?• Why do we think the problem has anything to do with chemicals? • Why has it take us so long to figure this out?• What do we do now?

  3. What’s the problem?

  4. We’re living longer,but we’re less healthy

  5. Cancer mortality is going down but cancer incidence keeps going up From Environmental and Occupational Causes Of Cancer, New Evidence 2005-2007 at www.healthandenvironment.org

  6. Young women may be loosing their health and their right to choose to become mothers • 30% more babies are being born premature • 25 to 50% of women have fibroids • 10 to 15% suffer from endometriosis • Girls are developing breasts and starting their periods earlier • Breast cancer went up 40% between 1973 and 1998 Shaping Our Legacy: Reproductive Health and the Environment. A report on the Summit on Environmental Challenges to Reproductive Health and Fertility, January 28–30, 2007. www.prhe.ucsf.edu/prhe/pubs/shapingourlegacy.pdf and Hormone Disruptors and Women’s Health, Reasons for Concern at www.healthandenvironment.org

  7. Young men may grow up to be half the man their fathers were • Sperm counts down 50% over 50 years • Compared with 30 years ago • 46% more men get testicular cancer • 76% more men get prostate cancer Shaping Our Legacy: Reproductive Health and the Environment. A report on the Summit on Environmental Challenges to Reproductive Health and Fertility, January 28–30, 2007. www.prhe.ucsf.edu/prhe/pubs/shapingourlegacy.pdf

  8. •CDC reports 6.1 million U.S. couples with infertility problems in 1995 •7.3 million couples with infertility in 2002 •Largest reported increase in women under 25 Are we loosing the right to reproduce? Barrett, Julia R., Fertile Grounds for Inquiry, EHP, November 2006 and Shaping Our Legacy

  9. Why do we think the problem has anything to do with chemicals?

  10. Wildlife Tragedies Florida Panther

  11. Human Tragedies: Minamata, Japan Chemical Plant Dumps Mercury into Bay

  12. Human Tragedies: DBCP Harmful to workers who made it and the workers who used it

  13. Human Tragedies:Thalidomide http://www.jamd.com/search?assettype=g&assetid=3159439&text=Sherri+Finkbine

  14. Human Tragedies: Diethylstilbestrol (DES) Exposure to DES in the womb = Deformed uterus = Impaired fertility Increased risk of miscarriage Premature labor & birth Fibroids Cancer of the Vagina and Cervix Third Generation Effects

  15. Vandenberg, LN, MV Maffini, PR Wadia, C Sonnenschein, BS Rubin and AM Soto. 2007. Exposure to environmentally relevant doses of the xenoestrogen bisphenol-A alters development of the fetal mouse mammary gland. Endocrinology 148(1):116-27. Animal Studies Predict Human Harm

  16. Why has it taken us so long to figure this out?

  17. Linear dose response curves don’t capture the chemical problem Outdated frameworks miss low dose effects, mixtures, synergies, timing, sensitivities and other differences between people and long delays between exposures and visible effects, including multigenerational effects Neat but wrong

  18. Hormones: Tiny doses control communication and coordination of body tissues 300 ppt in a 143 lb. woman is equivalent to .000000000002 of one plain M &M

  19. Two Ways to Make Hormones

  20. In a human body •Estrogens •Testosterone •Adrenaline •Insulin •Thyroid •Progesterone •LH •FSH Two Ways to Make Hormones In a factory •Atrazine •Bisphenol A •DDT •DES •Dioxins •PBB •PCB •Phthalates

  21. Hormone disruptors send the wrong message at the wrong time to the wrong place

  22. Mixtures and synergies destroy resiliency and create disease Stress Genes Racism Access to Health Care Gene Expression Social Support Radiation Nutrition Toxic Chemicals Poverty Infections Adapted from T. Schettler’s modification of Hubbs-Tait et al. “Psychological science in the public interest”

  23. Long Delays Women exposed to relatively high levels of DDT prior to mid-adolescence are 5 times more likely to develop breast cancer Cohn, BA, MS Wolff, PM Cirillo and RI Sholtz. 2007. DDT and breast cancer in young women: New data on the significance of age at exposure. Environmental Health Perspectives doi:10.1289/ehp.10260

  24. Manufactured doubt and fear prevent new science from becoming new policy

  25. What do we do now?

  26. Any Stressor You Reduce Increases Your Resilience Stress Genes Racism Access to Health Care Gene Expression Social Support Radiation Nutrition Toxic Chemicals Poverty Infections Adapted from T. Schettler’s modification of Hubbs-Tait et al. “Psychological science in the public interest”

  27. Chemical Facts Change The Framework from Linear Dose Response Curves to a Recognition That Chemicals Work Like Pharmaceuticals Neat but wrong Mixtures and synergies Sensitive populations Timing

  28. • 81,000 chemicals registered in US in 2003 • 99% of chemicals by volume grandfathered in without evidence of safety when TSCA become law in 1976 • EPA must have evidence of harm to require safety and health testing • Under TSCA, restrictions on 5 chemicals are in place, we don’t know the health effects of more than 85% of these chemicals Denison, R.A., Not That Innocent and Tickner, J.A., Introduction to TSCA TSCA: US chemical regulation:Reward ignorance and punish innovation

  29. How the FDA got the power to require proof of safety before a drug was marketed www.fda.gov/cder/about/history/ and Pomper, G.M., Ordinary Heroes and American Democracy

  30. For sources and more information www.womenshealthandenvironment.org

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