Washington-From mercury to pesticides, Americans are exposed daily to
environmental chemicals that could harm reproductive health, the nation's
largest groups of obstetricians and fertility specialists said Monday.
According to Associated Press Medical Writer,Lauran Neergaard in Washington DC,USA.The report
urges doctors to push for stricter environmental policies to better identify
and reduce exposure to chemicals that prove truly risky. But it's likely to
scare pregnant women in the meantime.
That's
because during the first prenatal visit, the American
College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists wants doctors to ask
mothers-to-be about their exposure to different chemicals. They're also
supposed to teach women how to avoid some considered most worrisome
during pregnancy.
"What
we're trying to get is the balance between awareness and alarmist," said
Dr. Jeanne
Conry, president of the American College of Obstetricians
and Gynecologists.
Specialists
with ACOG and the American
Society for Reproductive Medicine examined research about industrial
chemicals and pollutants that people can absorb from the air, water, food and
everyday products. Few chemicals hit the market with good information about
safe levels — something the groups hope to change. But certain chemicals
are linked to infertility, miscarriages, birth defects and other problems, the
committee said.
Risks are
greatest for women with high on-the-job exposure. So doctors should ask about
workplaces during that first prenatal visit, the committee advised.
But the
report also cited research suggesting virtually every pregnant woman is exposed
to at least 43 different chemicals. It's unclear how many matter, but some can
reach the fetus. For example, mercury pollution builds up in certain fish, and
when eaten by a mother-to-be, can damage her unborn baby's developing brain.
Prenatal exposure to certain pesticides can increase the risk of childhood
cancer, the report found.
Poor and
minority populations are disproportionately exposed to various pollutants,
urging doctors to be aware of concerns unique to where they live, the
committee said.
It's not
just about pregnancy. High enough pesticide exposure in adult men has been
linked to sterility and prostate cancer, the report noted.
But the
report also raises some controversial examples. For example, most Americans
have traces of BPA, or bisphenol-A, in their urine because it's so widely used
in plastics, consumer goods and to line metal food cans to prevent
contamination and spoiling. Makers of baby bottles and sippy cups stopped using
BPA several years ago because of consumer concern that it might harm young
children's development, and the Food
and Drug Administration won't let it return to those baby products. But the
FDA has maintained that BPA's use in other food containers is safe.
For now,
Conry said the consumer advice is common-sense: Choose fresh fruits and
vegetables over processed foods when possible and thoroughly wash produce.
Pregnant women and young children should eat certain seafood to get the
nutritional benefits without the mercury risk. That means avoiding shark,
swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish. Low-mercury examples are shrimp, canned
light tuna, salmon and catfish. (The FDA advises pregnant women to eat no more
than 6 ounces a week of white or albacore tuna, which has more mercury than the
canned light kind.)
"There's
only so much people can do as individuals and families to limit chemical
exposures," said University
of Washington public health dean Dr. Howard
Frumkin, an environmental health specialist not involved in the report. But
he called the statement "a very balanced, reasonable and
evidence-based contribution."
The
industry's American
Chemistry Council said current environmental regulations offer enough
consumer protection, and that the new report will create "confusion and
alarm among expectant mothers" and distract them from proven steps for a healthy pregnancy.
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