According to a new study published today, baby boys exposed to chemicals used in soft plastics in the uterus may show small signs of genital development change.
The study included more than 700 babies in four United States. S.
City, is by far the largest city.
It confirms early findings in humans and animals that exposure to certain types of chemicals called O-benzene ester may lead to changes in the way the male reproductive system is developed, Dr.
Russ Hauser, an epidemiology at Harvard's School of Public Health, did not participate in the new study.
Phthalate is a large class of industrial chemicals used in various consumer goods such as food packaging, flooring, perfume and lotion.
Lead author Shanna Swan said the baby had little change in the study, and she was a reproductive health scientist at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.
"These boys have no clinical abnormalities or are significantly different," Swan told Live Science . ".
[12] The worst hormone-
In this study, the researchers measured the content of 11 compounds in pregnant women, which were formed during the decomposition of neighboring benzene ester.
The researchers studied the levels of these compounds in the urine of women in the first three months of pregnancy, a period during which the fetal reproductive system began to develop.
They found that exposed in the uterus was a newborn boy at the highest level known as diacetate hexyl phenyl ester (DEHP, there is a "birth distance" 4% shorter than the boy born in the lowest level of women ".
Distance-
Measurement of length between anus and genitals --
This is a sign of reproductive health, the study authors wrote.
The researchers said that the distance between the anus and the genitals of men is usually 50 to 100% longer than that of women, and the shortened anal distance may mark incomplete masculine sex.
It is not clear whether the slight changes in the baby in this study are permanent or will cause any reproductive health problems.
Animal studies have shown that a shortened reproductive distance at birth may indicate reproductive abnormalities in later years, and previous studies in humans have linked the shortened reproductive distance to male testosterone abnormalities and semen problems.
But researchers have to follow up on the boys in the study after adulthood to see if their reproductive health is affected, Swan said.
The researchers found that male genital development was not associated with the levels of several other phthal salts.
In the baby girl, none of the tested neighboring benzene Ester was associated with genital changes.
In rodents, previous studies have shown that some phthalates, including DEHP, prevent the production of male sex hormones in the testicles.
Due to reproductive health problems, the United States banned the use of DEHP and two other neighboring benzene Ester in children's toys and products in 2008.
But this chemical is still likely to be used in food.
Processing and packaging materials, as well as medical tubes and supplies, according to this study.
A spokesman for the US chemical Commission, which represents the chemical manufacturer, said that people may be exposed to neighboring benzene Ester during food processing, which involves storage in flexible plastic or rubber bags or containers, but now most plastic food packaging and storage items are made of plastic without DEHP.
"The information collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over the past 10 years indicates that, despite the use of neighboring benzene Ester in many products, exposure from all sources is very low --
Far below the level of safety identified by regulators scientists, "a spokesman for the committee wrote in an email.
Swan said that while most Americans still have DEHP in their bodies, chemical levels have declined over the past decade as DEHP has been replaced by other plasticizer.
In this latest study, DEHP levels in pregnant women were measured from urine samples collected between 2010 and 2012, Swan said, between 2000 and 50%, the mother's urine levels were about 2002 lower than those obtained in a previous study.
Small studies conducted by Swan in 2005 and 2008 also found that prenatal exposure to higher levels of DEHP was associated with changes in male genital development.
"We are finding a significant association between the anonymous distance of men and the lower level of phthal salts, suggesting that there may be no safe exposure levels," she said . ".
While it is very difficult to avoid all contact with plasticizer chemicals, Swan suggests that choosing unprocessed foods can help reduce exposure to DEHP and other phthalates used in food packaging and processing
The results of the survey were published online today (February.
19) in the journal Human Reproduction
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