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HERBICIDE LINKED TO
INFERTILITY IN WOMEN
A recent
case-controlled study (2003) by Greenlee et al published in
Epidemiology showed that infertile women who live near U.S.
farmlands were 27 times more likely to have mixed or applied
herbicides and 3.3 times more likely to have used fungicides
within two years of conceiving than women who were fertile.
The
authors of the study, summarized by The
Collaborative on Health and The Environment, compared
matched populations of fertile and infertile women totaling
322 cases. The populations were matched for most variables
such as age, income, health status, body mass, sexual partner
history, and ruled out participants whose infertility may have
been caused by the male counterpart. Participants were asked
questions concerning demographics, occupation, exposures,
pesticide use, residency on a farm, and tobacco and alcohol
use from present to two years prior to conception.
The
findings support a number of epidemiological studies and
animal laboratory experiments that show strong associations or
linkages between infertility rates and exposure to
agricultural chemicals. A study by Swan
et al (2003) showed that men studied in Missouri who had
traces of alachlor, atrazine and diazinon in their urine had
increased risks of poor sperm quality.
The
recent Greenlee findings provide strong warnings to women not
to use or mix herbicides within two years of wanting to have a
baby. The study’s results also indicated that alcohol use
also contributed to women’s infertility rates by as much as
6.7 times. According to the Collaborative, “The collective
weight of evidence is very strong, especially in light of the
animal experiments. Taken together, they indicate that
fertility of American women and men is being undermined by
today's use of agricultural chemicals.”
(Beyond Pesticides,
January 22, 2004)
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