Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
4
Endocrine-Disrupting Contaminants
and Their Effects on Reproductive
and Develo
pmental Health
ChrisK.C.Wong
CONTENTS
Introduction............................................................................................................ 47
Environmental.Pollution.and.Reproductive.Health......................................... 48
Endocrine.Disruptors.and.Their.General.Mechanistic.Actions...................... 49
Endocrine.Disruptors.and.Their.Effects.on.Animal.Fertility.......................... 50
Endocrine.Disruptors.and.Their.Effects.on.Embryo.
Development.and.Epigenomic.Modiication.................................................... 52
Conclusion.and.Future.Recommendation......................................................... 53
References............................................................................................................... 54
Introduction
Industrial.revolution.unleashed.a.vast.variety.of.new.chemical.compounds.
into. the. environment.. Over. the. past. 60. years,. more. than. 80,000. synthetic.
chemical. compounds. have. been. made,. and. recently. more. than. 3,000. new.
chemicals.are.produced.each.year.(Landrigan.et.al..2002)..Since.the.adoption.
of.the.Stockholm.Convention.on.Persistent.Organic.Pollutants.(POPs).in.the.
year.2001,.the.environmental.and.health.impacts.of.environmental.contami-
nants.have.drawn.more.attention.from.scientists,.policy.makers,.industries,.
NGOs,.and.the.general.public..Without.doubt.these.chemicals.are.ubiquitous.
and.are.widely.dispersed.in.air,.water,.soil,.and.daily.necessity..For.the.iden-
tiication.and.quantiication.of.all.these.contaminants,.substantial.labor.and.
inancial. cost. are. required..However,.by.the.year.2000,.less. than.7%. of. the.
synthetic. chemical. compounds. were. tested. for. their. chronic. and. develop-
mental.toxicity.(Goldman.and.Koduru.2000).
Presumably,. dietary. food. intake. is. the. major. route. to. increase. the. body.
burden. of. environmental. contaminants.. Hence,. a. positive. correlation.
between. age. and. body. burdens. is. expected.. In. 1979,. a. mass. poisoning. of.
47
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