Several Persistent Chemicals Identified in Fetal Organs

Several persistent chemicals discovered in fetal organs shift focus on effects of toxic chemicals accumulated and methods estimating fetal chemical exposure.

Chemicals persistent in the environment, bioaccumulate in people, and nature are toxic threat to the health of humans and wildlife.

Researchers at Karolinska Institute in Sweden published a study in the journal Chemosphere after discovering industrial chemicals in the organs of fetuses conceived decades after banning the substances urge decision makers to consider the combined impact of the mix of chemicals that accumulate in people and nature.

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"These are important findings that call for regulators to consider the collective impact of exposure to multiple chemicals rather than evaluating just one chemical at a time," says first author Richelle Duque Björvang, PhD student at the Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology at Karolinska Institute.

While studying concentrations of 22 persistent organic pollutants (POPs) that remain in the environment for long periods of time and accumulate in humans through food, drinking water and air particles.

They examined samples of fetal fat tissue, liver, heart, lung and brain from 20 pregnancies ended in stillbirth in the third trimester in 2015-2016 and identified at least 15 of the 22 POPs in every organ with relative exposure more in baby boys and highest concentration in the fat tissue.

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The most pervasive chemicals were: • Hexachlorobenzene (HCB), a pesticide previously used to protect food crops from fungi; • Dichlorodiphenyldichloroethene (DDE), a metabolite of DDT, an insect killer used in the mid-1900s; • Variants of Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs), chemicals formerly used in a range of electrical products.

They also reported the concentrations in the fetal tissues exceeded those found in the maternal blood and placenta because of accumulation in fat tissue.

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According to the researchers, these latest findings suggest that blood and placenta samples may give a misleading picture of the diversity and concentration of chemicals that babies are exposed to during early development.

Though previous studies have linked early life exposure to POPs to adverse health outcomes, this study investigates the presence and concentration of various chemicals suggesting the approaches estimating fetal chemical exposure need to be updated for better reflection.

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Some limitations of the study are relatively modest sample size, including fetuses who had died in the womb late in the pregnancy may not fully representative babies born alive.

Source-Medindia