An international study reveals on Friday that endocrine disruptors can have a combined effect in pregnant women and cause delays in language and intellectual development in children.
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An international study published on Friday February 18 demonstrates a correlation between exposure to endocrine disruptors during pregnancy and language delay in children. This study was conducted in Sweden on an experimental basis on 1,800 pregnant women and their children after childbirth. The scientists, including a team from the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the National Museum of Natural History, observed the exposure of future mothers to a mixture of eight endocrine disruptors, consisting of phthalates, bisphenol A and compounds perfluorinated. To do this, they took blood and urine samples during pregnancy.
This study makes it possible to demonstrate a “cocktail effect” of endocrine disruptors, where previous studies studied their effects separately. “While the levels of exposure to chemicals taken individually are often lower than the authorized limit values, this does not imply an absence of long-term consequences, especially since women and men are constantly exposed to complex mixtures of chemicals. “write the authors of the study.
After birth, the development of children was studied over several years. The study “made it possible to correlate effects on 30-month-old children who had been exposed to chemicals”, specify the researchers in a press release, with a language delay and a lower intelligence quotient in those whose mothers were the most exposed to these endocrine disruptors. According to the study authors, 54% of the children followed in the study had a risk of language delay because they had been exposed before birth to this mixture of chemicals.
Scientists were able to understand the mechanisms that cause these developmental disorders in children by recreating a combination of endocrine disruptors in the laboratory, in order to test its effect on cell cultures and animals. They were able to observe that these endocrine disruptors notably influence the thyroid system in the future mother, which plays an essential role in early pregnancy on the development of the baby’s brain.
The researchers therefore call on countries to no longer set exposure limit thresholds for each chemical compound taken separately, but to take into account the effects of the mixture of these endocrine disruptors which are present on a daily basis, for example in cosmetics, clothing, paintings or kitchen utensils.