Last Wednesday, I presented a five-minute talk on endocrine disruptors to the ECO Committee while it was debating the Pesticide Bylaw. For information, below is a letter based on my presentation and which is to be published in the Mercury on Tuesday April 22.
Yours sincerely
MG
Health Minister Tony Clement’s prudent comment that it is ‘better safe than sorry’ in prohibiting various uses of bisphenol A (Mercury April 19, 2008 Steve Rennie) has important implications for Guelph in relation to the upcoming City Council decisions for the Pesticide Bylaw. The human fetus is fragile and under the exquisite control of hormones (endocrines) that are programmed to act at critical periods of development. Exposure of the fetus to extremely low doses of estrogenic compounds like bisphenol A cause a large number of irreversible effects, manifest at birth, during puberty, at maturity, or in aging. These effects include changes in development and differentiation of the reproductive tract, various cancers, neuro-development, immune function, diabetes and obesity. Many registered pesticides are endocrine disruptors and have estrogenic, anti-estrogenic, anti-androgenic or thyroid active properties. The exposures are generally imperceptible and the effect is manifest only after a long latency period; thus it is difficult to prove the effect was caused by the exposure. Effects can occur in the grandchildren of the person exposed. Health Canada and the international scientific community do not have any validated protocols for testing chemicals, including pesticides, for endocrine disruption. The chemical industry has repeatedly shown that it is unable or unwilling to find these effects in replicating the research studies that have found effects. All pesticides that have been registered in Canada have therefore never been evaluated for their endocrine disrupting potential on fetal development. Epidemiological evidence indicates that the incidences of many diseases and developmental abnormalities are increasing. These cannot be accounted for by traditional risk factors, but are not inconsistent with perinatal exposures to endocrine disruptors. Tony Clement’s decision to ban bisphenol A is a model of the precautionary approach that City Council should take next Monday on pesticide use in Guelph, to effectively confront this growing public health emergency.