Human beings are directly responsible for more than 110,000 chemical substances which have been generated since the Industrial Revolution.
Every year, we "invent" more than 2,000 new substances, most of them contaminants, which are emitted into the environment and which are consequently present in food, air, soil and water. Nonetheless, human beings are also victims of these emissions, and involuntarily (what is
known in this scientific field as "inadvertent exposure"), every day humans ingest many of these substances which cannot be assimilated by our body, and are accumulated in the fatty parts of our tissues.

This is especially worrying for pregnant women. During the gestation period, all the contaminants accumulated in the organism have direct access to the microenvironment where the embryo/foetus develops.
The doctoral thesis analyses the presence of organochlorine pesticides �"normally used as pesticides- in the organs of pregnant women. The
analysis was carried out at San Cecilio University Hospital, in Granada, with 308 women who had given birth to healthy children between 2000
and 2002.

The results are alarming: 100% of these pregnant women had at least one pesticide in their placenta, but the average rate amounts to eight different kinds of chemical substances.

Fifteen different pesticides in the organs of pregnant women

In her study, through the analysis of the placentas, Lopez studied the
presence of 17 endocrine disruptive organochlorine pesticides (i.e., pesticides which interfere with the proper performance of the hormonal system).

The results showed that the most frequent pesticides present in the placenta tissue are DDE (92.7%), lindane (74.8%), endosulfan diol (62.1%) y endosulfan-I (54.2%). Among these, the most prevalent was endosulfan-diol, with an average concentration of 4.15 nanograms
per gram of placenta (156.73 ng/g lipid). Surprisingly, the UGR
researcher discovered that some patients' placentas contained 15 of
the 17 pesticides analysed.

A total of 668 samples from pregnant women were used in this study,
which was approved by the Ethical Commission of San Cecilio University
Hospital. Mothers were informed of the study's goals before giving
their express consent.

Thanks to gynaecologists, the nurses and the midwives who participated
in the study, biological samples were extracted from the blood, the
umbilical cord and the placenta during childbirth. The following day,
an epidemiological survey was carried out by trained survey
statisticians. The survey contained questions on the general data of
the parents, their places of residence, profession, medical history,
anthropometric information, age, tobacco habits, lifestyle and diet
during pregnancy, among other factors.

The study has facilitated research into the association of the
characteristics of parents, newborn babies and childbirth with
exposure to pesticides found in the mothers' placenta. Among the
aspects associated with a higher presence of pesticides we find an
older age, higher body mass index, less weight gained during
pregnancy, lower educational level, higher workplace exposure,
first-time motherhood and lower weight in babies.

"Serious effects on the baby"

According to Maria Jose Lopez, "we do not really know the consequences
of exposure to disruptive pesticides in children, but we can predict
that they may have serious effects, since this placenta exposure occurs at key moments of the embryo's development" .

The research group to which Maria Jose Lopez belongs, directed by
Prof. Nicolas Olea Serrano, has conducted several studies which
associate exposure to pesticides with neonatal malformations in the genito-urinary system, such as cryptorchidism (undropped testicles) and hypospadias (total fusion of the urethral folds).

The UGR researcher underlines the fact that, in spite of "inadvertent
exposure", "it is possible to control pesticide ingestion by means of
a proper diet, which should be healthy and balanced, through
consumption of food whose chemical content is low. Moreover, daily
exercise and the avoidance of tobacco (which could also be a source of
inadvertent exposure) are very important habits which help to control
the presence of pesticides in our organisms.

Reference:
María Jose Lopez Espinosa
Maternal-child exposure via the placenta to environmental chemical
substances with hormonal activity
Thesis 2007

For further information contact:
UNIVERSITY OF GRANADA - COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT
Secretariado de Comunicacion - Universidad de Granada
Hospital Real - Cuesta del Hospicio s/n
Spain