[Pharmwaste] PCB-exposed women may have fewer boys

[DeBiasi,Deborah]

http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2008/07/16/PCB-exposed_women_may_have_few
er_boys/UPI-41801216241879/

Health News

PCB-exposed women may have fewer boys

Published: July 16, 2008 at 4:57

DAVIS, Calif., July 16 (UPI) -- Women exposed to high levels of
polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, are less likely to give birth to
male children, U.S. researchers said. 

Lead author Irva Hertz-Picciotto of the University of California, Davis,
said PCBs, widely used in industry as cooling and insulating fluids for
electrical equipment, as well as in construction and domestic products
such as varnishes and caulks, are persistent organic pollutants
identified worldwide as human blood and breast milk contaminants. 

The study, published in the journal Environmental Health, found that
among women from the San Francisco Bay Area, those exposed to higher
levels of PCBs during the 1950s and 1960s, were 33 percent less likely
to give birth to male children than the women least exposed.

The researchers measured the levels of PCBs in blood taken from pregnant
women during a Bay Area study during the 1960s. When they compared the
blood levels to the children's sex, they found that for every one
microgram of PCBs per liter of serum, the chance of having a male child
fell by 7 percent, the study said.

PCBs were banned in the 1970s, but the flame-retardants polybrominated
diphenyl ethers currently used in plastic casings and foam products
share many of the biochemical and toxicologic properties of PCBs, the
researchers said. 


Deborah L. DeBiasi
Email:   dldebiasi at deq.virginia.gov
WEB site address:  www.deq.virginia.gov
Virginia Department of Environmental Quality
Office of Water Permit Programs
Industrial Pretreatment/Toxics Management Program
PPCPs, EDCs, and Microconstituents
Mail:          P.O. Box 1105, Richmond, VA  23218 (NEW!)
Location:  629 E. Main Street, Richmond, VA  23219
PH:         804-698-4028
FAX:      804-698-4032