Poisoned in the womb

Oh, I forgot to mention it before: Tlalit & Alexander’s baby was born on 10th September. 

I’d been reading "Our Stolen Future" by Theo Colborn, et al.  It’s about EDCs, endocrine disrupting compounds, which are basically synthetic chemicals that are all around us, which mess with the hormone system.  This is based on a large number of scientific studies; it’s a growing field of science, not just someone’s speculations, you see. 

Anyway, I’d been reading about how these chemicals which get stored in your fat and build up in your body.  Apparently the developing foetus is more at risk from these chemicals than anyone else, because hormones control the baby’s development in the womb.  If the mother’s body is full of chemicals that mess up the hormone signals, the baby can end up with endometriosis, infertility and breast cancer if it’s a girl.  It can get testicular cancer, undescended testicles, low sperm counts and a deformed penis if the baby’s a boy.  These same effects have been observed in both animals and humans. 

This is of huge interest to me, because I have endometriosis.  These chemicals seem to be the chief suspect for causing it, at the moment.  Dioxins, PCBs, furans, phthalates, there are many more.  The book talked about how everyone has these chemicals in their bodies, and rates of all these medical problems are rising at quite a fast rate.  But it hadn’t really sunk in for me. 

Then Alexander rang to tell me the baby had been born, a boy.  And then he told me the baby had a deformity of the penis, where the urethra opens on the underside rather than at the end.  It’s exactly the same deformity the book was talking about.  I was just stunned. 

I think few people are really aware of how physically unwell we are as a society.  Since the 1940s, when the chemical industry really started booming, average sperm counts have dropped by half, a vast proportion of people have allergies, asthma and cancer rates have risen steadily, and endometriosis has gone from being virtually unknown to affecting over 10% of women.  It’s happened so slowly, steadily, that the doctors haven’t twigged that this is NOT normal.  This is slow poisoning. 

This is a big issue for me.  I hear plenty of people saying that the risk is overrated, and anyway, they feel fine!  It’s easy to dismiss concerns when you’re healthy.  An email list I’m on recently had a thread about nutrition concerns.  Predictably, those who were old and healthy pooh-poohed all the concerns of those who were young and sick.  I want to tell them, ‘Don’t you get it?  We’re the canaries in the coal mine.  When you see us get sick, don’t just sit there feeling proud of your resilience, get out of the damn mine!’  After all, next time around you won’t be gestated in a toxin-free body.  You’ll end up with a weak and sickly body like the youngest generations.