These disruptors may affect men's health

This strictly male matter has become a stirring global issue. Consider these disturbing findings from several studies:

• Boys, whose mothers were exposed to PCBs and dioxins during pregnancy, had a reduced sperm quality at age 20.

• Boys, whose mothers were exposed to DDT during pregnancy, had a higher risk of developing testicular cancer 30 years later.

• Boys, whose mothers are hairdressers (who are exposed to hairsprays in beauty salons) and farmers (who are exposed to pesticides) had shown an increased risk of urogenital malformations.

• Boys, who had a prenatal exposure to phthalates, had a reduced masculine play distance.

“EDCs (endocrine-disrupting chemicals) are fast becoming an issue of global concern because of their potential harmful effects on the capacity of humans to reproduce healthy offspring,” reports ecotoxicologist Dr. Markus Johansson of the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation who was in town recently to address a forum of the EcoWaste Coalition.

He points out, ”The unborn child is most sensitive to EDCs.”

To zero in on this monstrous problem that particularly affects the male species and the pressing need to protect consumers from EDCs, volunteers from the EcoWaste Coalition carried two baskets filled with common products for children and adults plus a baby doll holding a mini-placard that asks “Are these products safe for me?” 

What are some of these products and what dangers do they pose to the male population?

Some of the more well-known EDCs (which you may already have come across or may just be right under your nose) are industrial chemicals like bisphenol A, nonylphenol, phthalates, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs); heavy metals such as lead and cadmium in paint; pesticides such as DDT, endosulfan, and vinclozolin; and common ingredients found in personal care products like parabens and phthalates.   

Dr. Johansson explains that because EDCs disrupt the body’s hormonal system, they cause such glaring ill effects as “malformed and shortened penises, undescended testicles, reduced sperm production, decreased age of puberty, and increased rate in testicular cancer among males.”

The women are not spared. Among females, EDCs can alter reproductive development, causing reduced fertility and early onset of breast and menopause.  EDCs are linked to increased incidents of breast cancer and reduced fecundity (fertility), Johansson notes.

“As a precautionary measure, the government should ban chemicals suspected of interfering with endocrine functions and the industry should be compelled to replace them with benign alternatives for human and environmental health,” Thony Dizon of the EcoWaste Coalition’s Project Protect strongly recommends.

To prevent fetal exposure, Dr. Johansson suggests that pregnant or breastfeeding women, should especially:

1) Avoid cosmetics and personal care products, including sprays, with EDCs. 

2) Avoid exposure to lead-containing paint and dust.

3) Avoid plastic toys for kids, especially PVC toys. 

4) Wash new clothes (or clothes you just bought off the rack) to remove excess chemicals.

5) Buy organic food if possible.

6) Keep homes and offices clean and well-ventilated.

Surely, we shouldn’t let these disruptors disrupt our lives.

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Rx: Making hospitals plastic- and styrofoam-free

In an effort to safeguard the health of Mother Earth, hospitals are now cleaning up and going plastic- and styrofoam-free.   

Merci Ferrer, director of Health Care Without Harm-Asia Pacific, an environmental-health NGO, relates,  “The move to go plastic- and styro-free in hospitals started several years ago. It is fair to say that some of our hospitals got the ball rolling, way before local government units and the Congress.”

Fact is, San Lazaro Hospital (SLH) in Manila has been strictly enforcing a no plastic-no styro memorandum for a few years now.  With the gradual implementation of the no-plastic, no-styrofoam policy, SLH’s dietary section no longer serves food to patients in styrofoam containers. 

“The dietary section is completely free from styrofoam and we are looking at alternatives to the plastic cling wraps used to cover food.  The canteen, which is a zero-styrofoam zone, too, is slowly minimizing the use of plastics,” says Dr. Karen Arago, program manager for SLH Health Care Waste Management Committee.  “We are likewise thinking of ways to discourage people to use plastic spoons and forks for take-out food while looking for alternatives that are reusable and/or biodegradable.” 

Hospital employees do their bit towards this effort by bringing their own utensils. But the problem is visitors ask for plastic spoons and forks.

Daniel S. Tuglao, head of the dietary section, shares that volunteer nurses, medical technologists, radiology technicians, mortuary attendants, and 24-hour doctors are even instructed to bring their own containers for their free meals courtesy of the hospital’s dietary section.

San Lazaro Hospital is also gradually removing drinking straws in its canteen.     

“Eventually, we want visitors to know that we are moving away from plastic,” Arago points out.  “We want them to see the complete picture of health and that it is a complete work-out.  It is not just about going to hospitals, getting medicines, and being treated by doctors.  It is also about using resources that are safe for our health and the environment.”

 According to Ferrer, some hospitals are also phasing out plastic admission kits and replacing them with paper or reusable bags.  Like bags made of cloth from discarded flour bags, which members of the community can make together, giving them a valuable source of income. These hospitals include St. Paul de Chartres (SPC) health care ministry’s 14 hospitals around the Philippines and St. Loius University Hospital of the Sacred Heart in Baguio City. 

Just last March, Maria Reyna Xavier University Hospital, a SPC hospital in Cagayan de Oro City, put into effect a no-styrofoam policy.  Doctors and patients are just getting used to the new policy while  fast-food stores delivering food to hospital staff and patients are getting the drift.

Going beyond the no-plastic, no-styrofoam campaign, hospitals are also looking at alternatives to PVC plastic medical devices such as IV bags and tubing.

Experts say that manufacturing PVC generates highly toxic dioxin, one of the most persistent organic pollutants known to science, which poses the greatest risk to hospital patients. 

Stiff and brittle in its pure form, PVC can only be made into consumer products by adding modifying chemicals, the most common of which for PVC medical device is the DEHP. 

“DEHP can leach out from products like IV tubing directly into the body of the patient.  Its risks are acknowledged by several medical associations and government agencies and thus we advocate replacing PVC and DEHP-containing products with alternatives,” Ferrer warns.

Health Care Without Harm has come up with a list of alternatives to PVC-DEHP medical devices. For the list, log on to www.noharm.org.

The truth is, these plastic and styrofoam disposables simply have to go.

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