In order to help women limit their exposure to endocrine disruptors during pregnancy, the French city of Strasbourg has just launched a “green prescription” concept. Since November, health professionals can prescribe access to free awareness workshops on the subject to pregnant women. Expectant mothers who participate in the project also receive a weekly basket of organic vegetables from local farms.
Endocrine disruptors are chemical substances found in the environment that have the ability to destabilize the functioning of the body’s hormones. Bisphenol A, phthalates, brominated flame retardants and certain pesticides are products suspected of adverse health effects.
Endocrine disruptors are stigmatized, among other things for their effect on fertility in men, precocious puberty in girls and dysfunction of the thyroid gland or metabolism.
“There are three periods of exposure peaks: there are pregnant women, young children and adolescents, since physiologically these are times when we change at the hormonal level and therefore when the disruptors are the most powerful” , explained the person in charge of the project, the Dr Alexandre Feltz, in a telephone interview with The Press.
PHOTO JEROME DORKEL, PROVIDED BY THE DR ALEXANDRE FELTZ
The Dr Alexander Feltz
“From a sociological point of view, it is certain that, by definition, pregnant women are very sensitive to their quality of life, their health and, as we know, the health of the child to come. So it’s a moment that can be rocking for life practices, ”added the one who is also deputy mayor of Strasbourg and responsible for public and environmental health.
Maryse Bouchard, Quebec expert on the issue of endocrine disruptors, agrees.
“From a prevention and public health perspective, I think this is an excellent idea. Because basically, it’s really well targeted to do this kind of intervention for pregnant women. It doesn’t last that long, a pregnancy, and then it can have an impact for the rest of the life of the unborn child,” explains the associate professor in the department of environmental and occupational health at the University of Montreal and CHU Sainte-Justine.
Support 800 women
About 3,000 children are born each year in Strasbourg and the project, which is in the “experimental and evaluation” phase, has the budget to support 800 pregnant women over one year. Already, 200 women have registered, and more than a hundred have taken part in a first spin.
The “green prescription” is part of a new trend in medicine, that of prescribing something other than a drug. It is a bit like physical activity prescriptions, “Prescri-Nature” recently introduced in Quebec or museum prescriptions.
In Strasbourg, doctors, nurses and gynecologists will be able to prescribe access to the program. Two workshops are given, one at the beginning of the pregnancy and the other at the end. The groups bring together between 15 and 20 women at a time.
An example of what is taught during the training? The design of household cleaning products.
We use a lot of cleaning products, these products are often expensive, so afterwards, it smells good, but it’s often very toxic. We therefore suggest cleaning with vinegar, Marseille soap and a little lemon.
The Dr Alexander Feltz
“There you go, with that we can manage to do all the cleaning in an ecological way, good for our health and good for the planet”, illustrates the Dr Feltz.
Another example: be conscientious with the use of plastic products. “Unfortunately, we have become accustomed to cooking, storing or buying products that are wrapped or heated in plastic. We know that heating will lead to the fact that these products from the oil industry will be transferred to food. It is essential to cook in products that are neutral and to preserve food rather in glass than in plastic,” he says.
PHOTO MEHDI FEDOUACH, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
People demonstrate in Bordeaux against the use of pesticides which are presumed to have effects on the health of children.
Feed
Another topic covered is that of food. “We know that pesticides are endocrine disruptors, that is to say that they enter the body and they pass for hormones”, explains the Dr Feltz.
Every week, the women have access to a basket of three kilos of vegetables from organic farming, therefore grown without pesticides.
PHOTO ANDREA MANTOVANI, THE NEW YORK TIMES ARCHIVES
In organic farming, vegetables are grown without pesticides.
On foods from traditional agriculture, there may be pesticide residues. For the moment, there is no clear scientific consensus on the existence of impacts of cumulative exposure to these products at very low doses.
More broadly, it is also impossible to predict which endocrine disruptor will have which effect on whom and at what dose of exposure.
“These are products that come from just about everywhere, so it’s complicated to study. If we wait to have the perfect data, then we risk having effects at the population level, so I really believe in the importance of prevention in this context,” says Maryse Bouchard.