[health-vn] News: Prenatal Exposure to Phthalates May Lead to Attention Disorders

[Vern Weitzel]

Subject: 	News: Prenatal Exposure to Phthalates May Lead to Attention
Disorders
Date: 	Sat, 30 Jan 2010 15:46:57 -0500
From: 	Yahoo News Groups <ashwani.vasishth at gmail.com>
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To: 	Environmental Ecology News <envecolnews at yahoogroups.com>





http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/phthalates-and-attention-deficits

*Children more likely to have attention, behavioral problems when
exposed to phthalates in womb, New York study says

*Children exposed in the womb to chemicals in cosmetics and fragrances
are more likely to develop behavioral problems commonly found in
children with attention deficit disorders, according to a study of New
York City school-age children published Thursday. Scientists said the
findings uncovered a new problem that could be related to phthalates -
effects on a child's developing brain. "More phthalates equaled more
behavioral problems," said Stephanie Engel, an associate professor of
preventive medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. "For every
increase of exposure, we saw an increase in frequency and severity of
the symptoms," including attention problems, poor conduct and
aggression. The connection was only detected for the types of phthalates
used in perfumes, shampoos and other personal care products, not the
ones found in vinyl toys and other soft plastics.

By Marla Cone
Editor in Chief
Environmental Health News

Illustration Omitted
         The U.S. does not restrict phthalates in cosmetics and other
personal care items. Stepheye/flickr

Children exposed in the womb to chemicals in cosmetics and fragrances
are more likely to develop behavioral problems commonly found in
children with attention deficit disorders, according to a study of New
York City school-age children published Thursday.

Scientists at Mount Sinai School of Medicine reported that mothers who
had high levels of phthalates during their pregnancies were more likely
to have children with poorer scores in the areas of attention,
aggression and conduct.

Children were 2.5 times more likely to have attention problems that were
"clinically significant" if their mothers were among those highest
exposed to phthalates, the study found.  The types of behavior that
increased are found in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder and other so-called disruptive behavior disorders.

"More phthalates equaled more behavioral problems," Stephanie Engel, a
Mount Sinai associate professor of preventive medicine and lead author
of the study, said in an interview Thursday. "For every increase of
exposure, we saw an increase in frequency and severity of the symptoms."

  The connection was only detected for the types of phthalates used in
perfumes, shampoos, soaps, nail polishes, lotions, deodorants and other
personal care products. No behavioral effects were found for the
phthalates used in vinyl toys and other soft plastics.

"Clearly environmental toxicants play a role in child neurodevelopment,
and phthalates, in particular, have been understudied in this area."
-Stephanie Engel, Mount Sinai School of Medicine A federal law that went
into effect a year ago bans phthalates in children's vinyl toys and
other products. But there are no U.S. restrictions on phthalates in
cosmetics and other personal care items. They are, however, banned in
cosmetics sold in Europe. Manufacturers of the products maintain that
the chemicals are safe after being widely used for about 50 years.

Scientists on Thursday said the study has uncovered a new problem that
could be related to phthalates - effects on a child's developing brain.
Until now, most research has focused on their potential to block male
hormones and feminize boys or contribute to male reproductive problems.

    "Clearly environmental toxicants play a role in child
neurodevelopment, and phthalates, in particular, have been understudied
in this area," Engel said.

   Dr. Philip Landrigan, a pediatrician at Mount Sinai and director of
the Children's Environmental Health Center, called it "a new area of
concern" about phthalates.

   "Clearly it needs to be replicated, as does any study that breaks new
ground, but the study itself is very well done and very credible," he said.

  The new study involved 188 children between the ages of 4 and 9 who
were born between 1998 and 2002, according to the study published online
in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. Most were from East
Harlem or the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and three-quarters of them
were low-income.

Illustration Omitted
          The study has uncovered a new problem that could be related to
phthalates - effects on a child's developing brain. Holly Clark/flickr

The children's scores were based on the answers that their mothers
provided to standardized questions commonly used by psychiatrists and
other clinicians to help diagnose attention deficit disorders. The
mothers responded to 130 questions designed to detect problematic
behaviors on a 4-point scale ranging from "never" to "almost always" and
to 86 questions on another survey designed to measure cognitive
function, such as memory.

Some effects were stronger in boys than girls, but the associations to
the chemicals were still considered significant in the girls, Engel said.
  The researchers did not use doctors or other clinicians to evaluate the
children. Instead, the findings were based on the mothers' evaluations.

"A parent's report about a child's behavior is certainly subjective,"
Engel said. But she added that mothers have been found to be very
accurate in assessing poor conduct, aggression and attention problems.

The mothers were tested for phthalates during pregnancy, the most
sensitive time for a child's brain development. In a study published
last year, Korean researchers linked childhood exposure to phthalates to
ADHD.

Shanna Swan, a University of Rochester epidemiologist whose research
linked phthalates with feminized genitalia in baby boys, called
phthalates a "complicated picture" for scientists to unravel because
there are many different compounds and so many potential effects to look
for.

But she said she found it "very interesting" that Engel and her team
found "so many negative associations" for the phthalates with low
molecular weights - the ones used in personal care products.

Swan was surprised that most of the effects were correlated with a
phthalate metabolite, called MMP, that is found in the lowest
concentrations in people.

  "It is not a metabolite usually thought of as toxic," said Swan,
director of the Center for Reproductive Epidemiology at the University
of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.

Dr. Sheela Sathyanarayana, an assistant professor of pediatrics at
Seattle Children's Hospital who also has researched phthalates, agreed.
saying that it was an unusual outcome that would need to be replicated
in another study. "Most of the literature points to the high molecular
weight phthalates (DBP and DEHP) causing toxicity and leading to health
impacts. This is definitely a new finding," she said.

"The percentage of kids diagnosed with behavioral problems has increased
over time and it's not clear why." -Stephanie Engel  The researchers
said they do not know how prenatal exposure to phthalates may lead to
behavioral problems. But they theorize that it may be because the
chemicals disrupt thyroid hormones, which are critical to an infant's
brain development.

In April, the Mount Sinai team reported effects in the same group of
children when they were newborns. The girls - but not the boys - with
high exposure to phthalates had differences in alertness and
orientation, two indicators of neurodevelopmental effects in infants,
according to that study published in the journal Neurotoxicology.

  The new study raises the question of whether phthalates and other
hormone-disrupting chemicals could be playing a role in the increasing
rate of attention deficit disorders diagnosed in children. However,
phthalates have been around for about 50 years, and it is unknown
whether people's exposure to them has increased. Lead is another
contaminant that has been linked to ADHD.
"The percentage of kids diagnosed with behavioral problems has increased
over time and it's not clear why," Engel said. "It would be a stretch to
attribute it all to endocrine disruptors. There are probably multiple
different causes."

Nearly every human tested has traces of phthalates in his or her body,
and women are most highly exposed.

"There is sufficient evidence to be concerned about phthalates, and it's
prudent to reduce exposure as much as possible," Engel said. "But they
are so ubiquitous right now it's hard to eliminate exposure without
regulatory action."

Engel said people should "press legislators" to restrict phthalates in
adult, as well as children's, personal care products.

  Fetuses are "uniquely vulnerable, particularly for  endocrine
disruptors," she said. "But we are very concerned about the problem of
post-natal exposure as well. The kids continue to be exposed as they
grow up."

Consumers who want to learn more about the ingredients of their brands
of cosmetics can use a database compiled by the Environmental Working
Group at http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/index.php. However,
manufacturers don't always list phthalates on their labels.

Phthalates are solvents that are often used in cosmetics because they
help retain fragrances and help lotions penetrate the skin.  Many nail
polish manufacturers have already eliminated phthalates, which had been
commonly used to make the polish flexible and durable.

   The principal researcher for the study was Mary Wolff, director of
Mount Sinai's Center for Environmental Health and Disease Prevention
Research. The team also included two researchers from the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention and a Cornell University scientist.

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