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Environmental Health Watch
Today there are 5 million girls and women in the United
States who have endometriosis, along with another half million in Canada and millions more
worldwide. For those with endo, life is often a nightmare of misinformation, myths,
taboos, improper diagnoses, and problematic hit and miss treatments. It is debilitating
and incurable, often beginning as young as 10 or 11, and knows no racial or socioeconomic
barriers. Current research findings indicate that endometriosis is really just the
tip of a much larger iceberg, one that encompasses a range of health problems sharing one
key commonality: hormonal/ immune dysfunction.
The results of a 1998 Endometriosis Association survey,
presented at the 6th World Congress on Endometriosis, provide startling data
about the disease. The percentage of women with endometriosis reporting symptoms
before the age of 15 has jumped from 15 percent during the early to mid-1980s to 38
percent in 1998. Early onset of the disease is highly correlated with increased
severity. This disturbing trend provides a grim future for girls and young women as
more will experience severe life disruption because of endo related disability.
There is mounting evidence that links endometriosis to
dioxin (a group of toxic chemicals containing known and probable carcinogens), PCBs and
other endocrine disruptors (chemicals which act like hormones in our bodies and disrupt
the immune system). A 1992 study funded by the Endometriosis Association analyzed
rhesus monkeys exposed for four years to TCDD (the most toxic form of dioxin). Two
important conclusions of the study revealed that, "the incidence of endometriosis was
directly correlated with dioxin exposure and the severity of the disease was dependent
upon the dose administered," and that, "chronic exposure to the chemical toxin
dioxin is directly correlated with an increased incidence in the development of
endometriosis in rhesus monkeys." This landmark study has been followed by
other research which supports these findings, including recent studies which reveal that
women with endometriosis and their families have a greater risk of developing breast
cancer, ovarian cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and melanoma.
In addition to these findings, the Environmental Protection
Agency stated in its 1994 Dioxin Reassessment draft that the "general population's
current body burdens and exposures of dioxin are already at levels which affect our
health." One of the health effects that the EPA specifically identifies is a
"higher probability of experiencing endometriosis and the reduced ability to
withstand an immunological challenge."
The consequences of exposure to persistent chemicals like
dioxin are serious and irreversible. Once in our bodies they remain there
accumulating over time, mimicking natural hormones, disrupting our immune systems, and
causing ill health. As families who suffer because of endometriosis, we have the
right to know about our exposure to these toxins. As members of our communities, we
have the right to demand the elimination of these chemicals from our environment in order
to protect us all. The Endometriosis Association supports the public's right to know
and actively participates in community efforts to stop exposure to dioxins so human health
and the environment will no longer be compromised.
If you would like to learn more about toxins and their role
in endometriosis, please contact Kim Kelly,
Environmental Coordinator. The time has come for women with endometriosis to
take action on this issue so that no family will again have to experience the horror of
watching loved ones live with painful, chronic diseases that could have been
prevented. Help us prevent another generation of endometriosis.
****
The Endometriosis Association is a founding member of Health Care
Without Harm (HCWH), a coalition of over 200 organizations in 9 countries dedicated to
reforming the environmental practices of the health care industry. HCWH (www.noharm.org) advocates policies that eliminate the
indiscriminate incineration of medical waste and calls for change in purchasing and
materials management practices of hospitals and purchasing groups. HCWH researches
and promotes safer waste disposal alternatives and educates the public about dioxin,
mercury, and other endocrine-disrupting chemicals.
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