Fetuses exposed to pollutants have a greatly increased risk of developing genital malformations, according to a study conducted in the south of France.
A new deleterious effect of pollution has just been highlighted by the scientific community. Researchers have in fact isolated the risk of a boy’s genital malformation when the fetus is exposed to pollutants (solvents, detergents, pesticides, etc.) during pregnancy.
A risk tripled
The results of this study were published in the journal European Urology. For five years, two professors from the CHRU de Montpellier have identified in the CHRUs of Marseille, Bordeaux, Nice and Montpellier, malformations affecting 600 children, including 300 suffering from hypospadias, a congenital anomaly of the penis of the newborn (orifice of abnormally positioned urethra).
The risk of being born with hypospadias would thus be multiplied by three when boys were exposed to endocrine disruptors in their mother’s womb at the time of sexual differentiation. “The study shows for the first time that residential or domestic occupational exposure, and Tofortiori their association greatly increases the risk of genital malformation, ”said Charles Sultan, one of the study’s authors, quoted by AFP.
More at-risk professions
Thus, the professions of both parents as well as their places of residence would play a key role in this exhibition. The study lists these professions at risk: housekeeper, hairdresser, beautician, laboratory assistant, farmer, mechanic, painter …
“The presence of an incineration plant, a landfill, a chemical plant or intensive culture within a radius of 3 km around the place of residence is more frequent in the case of hypospaded children”, notes also Prof. Sultan.
Increase in the number of micro penises
According to the researchers, the pollution also causes in the boy “a problem of micro penis and the appearance of mammary gland at puberty”. “Never in my department have there been so many boys with micro penises”, they note, calling for “respect for the Grenelle de l’Environnement” and “the urgent stopping of the use of pesticides”, which increased “by 11% in 2014”.
Charles Sultan explained that he was about to carry out a study on the precocity of puberty in girls. “A worrying phenomenon” and “increasingly important in the south of France”, also due to environmental pollution, including pesticides. “68% of little girls who have experienced puberty at a very young age live in a risky environment,” he concludes.
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