Endocrine Disruptors: Here's How Pollution and Chemicals Affect Fertility

    Endocrine Disruptors: Here's How Pollution and Chemicals Affect Fertility

    Pollution heavily affects fertility: this is confirmed by the results of the PREVIENI research project, conducted by the WWF together with the Istituto Superiore Sanità, the University of Siena and the Sapienza University of Rome and funded by the Ministry of the Environment.


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    L'pollution heavily affects the fertility: this is confirmed by the results of the research project "PREVENT“, Led by WWF together withHigher Health Institute, the University of Siena and the Sapienza University of Rome and funded by the Ministry of the Environment.




    Le polluting substances present in alimony but also in everyday objects, in fabrics, cosmetics and detergents, they "contaminate" us daily and also interfere with our reproductive capacity. Especially if we live in a big city, because the intake of these substances is added to poor air quality e other negative environmental factors.

    The "PREVIENI" project had as its object, in particular, the effects of the harmful substances called "endocrine disruptors"Because they interfere with balances of sex hormones.

    THEUniversity of Siena, with the scientific coordination of Professor Silvano Focardi, analyzed i environmental data relating them to the reproductive health of 125 couples, and with the passage of contaminants during pregnancy between mother and child. The data highlight the heavy influence of pollutants such as i perfluorates, phthalates and bisphenol A on fertility. In addition, out of ten mother-infant couples, eight babies were found to be contaminated, demonstrating that pollutants can cross the once considered impassable barrier of the placenta.

    Christian Guerranti, who coordinated the activities of the working group of the University of Siena, explains: "We chose couples of people who live in the urban area of ​​Rome, couples living in Ferrara, a medium-small city with good environmental quality, and couples inhabitants in Sora, a small agricultural center in lower Lazio. All these people are exposed in a prolonged and continuous way to a mixture of endocrine disruptors. But the population of the large urban center is much more exposed: people suffering from infertility or specific reproductive diseases have higher levels of pollutants in their blood ”.

    Furthermore, the umbilical cord blood tests of mother-newborn couples, after a healthy and problem-free pregnancy, indicate a transfer of some endocrine disruptors from mother to fetus; these substances could induce alterations such as infertility in adult life not visible at the time of birth.



    It is therefore very important that the results of the "PREVIENI" research project are used for prevention actions, such as, for example, citizen information campaigns on lifestyles that protect themselves, their children and the environment, or the regulation of endocrine disruptors not yet regulated and the implementation of controls on food chains. "

    Despite the limitations of the law, obtained thanks also to the joint push of the scientific world and the environmental world, endocrine disruptors are still found in commonly used items such as carpets, clothes, non-stick cookware and paints, toys, containers and medical devices, fabrics, cars, PCs and televisions, pesticides, oils and industrial products. Furthermore, their traces are also found in food, where they arrive both by direct contact, for example with plastic containers, and by pollution of the environments in which animals are raised and plants are grown.



    Andrea Marchetti

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