Washington: Attention mothers-to-be! Exposure of
dioxin - a highly toxic compound - has been linked to an increase in
certain levels of hormones in women and their breastfeeding children
that puts them at higher risk of birth defects, cancer and
neurodevelopment disorders.
A defoliant chemical - Agent Orange - used by the US in 1962 to
1971 is one of the dioxin-contaminated herbicides that were sprayed
during the Vietnam War and used in different industrial and agricultural
activities.
The researchers at Kanazawa University in Japan revealed for the first time the impact of dioxin exposure on women and babies.
Lead researcher Teruhiko Kido said that dioxin hotspots in the
South of Vietnam are of the most severely polluted regions in the world.
Kido added that they know exposure to dioxins has an impact on
hormones and they wanted to know if this was being passed through
generations and potentially putting babies at risk in these areas.
Their use has resulted in hotspots of dioxin contamination, with
concentrations of the chemical two to five-fold higher in affected areas
in southern Vietnam than in non-contaminated regions.
Dioxins are endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) - they interfere
with how hormones send messages to each other around the body.
EDCs have been implicated in causing birth defects, cancer and neurodevelopment disorders.
In particular, dioxins have an effect on a hormone called
Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), which is responsible for male and female
characteristics in humans.
Dioxins put these out of balance, leading to health problems and disfigurement.
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