The link with Endometriosis
Our Stolen Future is a scientific detective story that explores the emerging science of endocrine disruption: how some synthetic chemicals interfere with the ways that hormones work in humans and wildlife. (The following is excerpted from the above link)
Endometriosis is a condition suffered by women in
which the tissue that normally lines the uterus
mysteriously migrates to the abdomen, ovaries,
bladder, or bowel resulting in growths that cause pain,
severe bleeding, infertility, and other problems. There
are several ideas proposed as to what causes
endometriosis, but none regarded as scientifically
certain. Contamination is one of the causes under
study, particularly with regard to endometriosis being a
result of immune system failures.
A poorly understood disease, endometriosis affects an
estimated 5.5 million women in the U.S. and Canada
and appears to be increasing. Particularly troubling is
the fact that it is showing up more than ever before in
very young women. Given the poor quality of data,
however, it is difficult to document long term trends or
determine the precise number of women afflicted with
the disease. Many cases go unreported and accurate,
confirmed diagnosis requires an invasive surgical
procedure.
Nonetheless, specialists in the field believe that the
prevalence of the disease has increased greatly since
World War II. The National Institute of Child Health and
Human Development estimates that endometriosis
afflicts 10 to 20 percent of women of childbearing age
in the U.S. Prior to 1921, there were only twenty
reports of the disease in the worldwide medical
literature.
As we describe in Chapter 10 of Our Stolen Future, the
medical causes of endometriosis are shrouded in
uncertainty. A few studies completed by the time we
published OSF pointed toward contamination. Since
then a small number of studies have been reported
consistent with this trend. None contradict it.
In 1992, German scientists reported an association
between heavy PCB contamination and endometriosis
that hinted at a new chapter in the search for causes of
endometriosis. Then in 1993 researchers from the
Harlow Primate Center at the University of Wisconsin
published dramatic and unexpected findings . Their
study was of monkeys used in research on the
long-term reproductive effects of dioxin. When three of
the dioxin treated animals died of severe endometriosis,
a new study was initiated to compare the presence and
severity of endometriosis with the animals exposure to
dioxin. The study found a dose-dependent relationship
between dioxin and endometriosis. Animals with more
exposure were more likely to develop the disease, and
the greater a female monkey's exposure to dioxin, the
greater the severity of the disease. Only one of 7
animals exposed to 25 parts per trillion dioxin
was free of endometriosis. This was much higher
than the rate of endometriosis experienced in the
general population of monkeys at the research center,
about 30%.
Experimental work has now afforded additional clues. In
mice and rats, exposure to dioxin increases the size of
endometriotic sites that are experimentally induced. A
furan also promotes endometrial growth.
