Liane Clorfene-Casten
1030 Asbury
Evanston, Illinois 60202
U.S.A.
Environment and reproductive health has become about as hot an issue as the publication of Rachel Carson's work, "The Silent Spring". My research as a journalist indicates a certain class of chemicals called organochlorines constitutes a serious threat to our reproductive capabilities and to the world's health. These man-made chemical pollutants are silent, toxic and very persistent. This class of chemicals includes: TCDD or dioxin, furans, DDT, DDE, PCBs, CFCs. The consequences of organochlorines to reproductive health are just now being officially confirmed, thanks to the U.S. EPA's 1994 reassessment of dioxin. Dioxin accumulates in body fat and remains there for years, eventually creating serious health effects. Finally, after intense study, EPA scientists state that dioxin creates a "cascade" of non-cancerous health effects, even at very low concentrations in people. The chemical causes lower testosterone levels in men who are heavily exposed. It causes reproductive and developmental problems in fish, birds and mammals and these effects are "likely to occur at some levels in humans." Research indicates this class of chemicals acts like toxic estrogens; they are xenobiotic--creating run-away cell proliferation, cancer and reproductive anomalies. In the U.S. cutting-edge, peer-reviewed research papers have already been published and agencies within the U.S. government (NIEHS, HHS, EPA, etc.) now concerned, have started to look into the breast cancer, prostate cancer, reproductive problems, thanks to mounting public pressure to make available more research money.
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