Assessment Of Fertility And Other Health Impacts For Selected Pollutants In Flanders: Opportunities And Limitations

Abstract

SummaryIn Belgium, the available information regarding the distribution and effects of endocrine disrupters is fragmentary, and has shortcomings that inhibit purposeful prevention and a policy of emission reduction.In this paper, the fertility impacts of a selected group of substances are subjected to a health risk assessment. This allows the fragmentary nature of the available information to be determined systematically and functionally. The risk assessment focuses on human health risk related to indirect exposures, and is established for five groups of pollutants: dioxins (halogenated hydrocarbon), atrazine (pesticide), bisphenol A (phenols), ethynylestradiol (synthetic hormone) and the tributyltin compounds (biocide/insecticide).The potential risks of the exposure to these endocrine disrupters are assessed using a 4-step procedure that entails: (1) identification of hazards, (2) effect assessment, (3) exposure assessment and (4) risk characterisation. To assess the exposure in the third step, data for a worst-case scenario (with maximum concentrations in the different environmental compartments), average values and data for a minimum scenario (with minimum concentrations) are used. For each substance, a human daily intake is calculated. This takes into account the exposure to air, drinking water and food. Results show that dioxins offer the greatest cause for health concerns in Belgium. A minimal daily intake of 2.56 pg teq/kg bw was calculated, corresponding to a higher risk of endometriosis and a decrease in lymphocytes. Bisphenol A and ethynylestradiol occur in concentrations that might constitute a health hazard. However, more research on the effects of both substances is required before final conclusions can be drawn. Overall, this study shows that the current environmental exposure to dioxins and probably bisphenol A and ethynylestradiol entails health risks for the population.