Environmental Health: EDCs and Pollution

Overview: Lecture 1 Topics

• Introduction to the Industrial Revolution.
• Endocrine Disruptors.
• Irreversible Contamination of Drinking Water.
• The impact of the aforementioned information on Endocrine Diseases and Disorders.

Researcher Sakhila Banu's Work

• Sakhila Banu is an assistant professor at Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
• Banu is using her background in endocrinology and reproductive biology to study how hexavalent chromium impacts female fertility and unborn children.
• Banu observed the heavy metal's impact on those too impoverished to relocate from industrial areas in India.
• Fetal ovarian development is affected by hexavalent chromium.
• The metal can cause premature ovarian failure in mothers and future health issues in exposed children.
• Hexavalent chromium in the mother's blood reaches the placenta and fetal tissue.
• Adult diseases may be programmed during fetal life when exposed to substances through the mother.

Learning

• It is important to look at educational opportunities as a chance to learn and grow, not just to get the best grade.

Societal Impact of Technology

• Albert Einstein expressed concern that technology might surpass human interactions.
• The Toffler Curve represents the rate of increasing changes and disruptions in the world as time progresses.
• The stages are Agricultural Age, the Industrial Age, and the Information Age.
• The increasing rate of Environmental factors has been impacted since the Industrial Age.

The Third Wave by Alvin Toffler

• The agricultural revolution, or "first wave", was initiated about 10,000 years ago, leading to settled agriculture and the development of villages and culture and is associated with agriculture.
• The first wave is the settled agricultural society which prevailed after the Neolithic Revolution, replacing hunter-gatherer cultures.
• The "second wave" refers to the Industrial Age society.
• The Industrial Revolution began in Britain and spread worldwide.
• Key parts of the second wave society include the nuclear family, factory education, and the corporation.
• The Industrial Revolution was a transition to new manufacturing processes occurring from about 1760 to 1840.
• The shift included moving to machination from hand production, new chemical and iron production, increased water power efficiency, increased use of steam, and machine tool development.
• The transition also saw a change from wood and biofuels to coal as a primary energy source.

Environmental Impact of the Industrial Revolution

• Atmospheric and water pollution increased.
• There was a higher loss of deforestation and oxygenation.
• Oceans, coral reefs and their bounty were affected.
• National parks, wilderness, and wetlands were affected.
• There was much nonrenewable natural resource depletion (fossil fuels, mineral ores, and topsoil).
• Toxicological challenges in agriculture.
• Expanded food production increased population and consumption, but at an enormous environmental cost.
• Globally approximately five billion hectares or 38% of the global land surface is agricultural land.
• One third of this land is used as cropland, while the remaining two-thirds consist of meadows and pastures for grazing livestock.
• Air Pollution has increased.
• CO2 released into the atmosphere has increased because of deforestation and burning fossil fuels.
• Sulfur dioxide from burning compounds with fossil fuels impacts the atmosphere.
• Sulfur oxides are dangerous to humans.
• Sulfur in the atmosphere causes acid rain.
• According to the ATSDR, 20,000 metric tons of hexavalent chromium are released yearly, with 5,000 tons as atmospheric emission.
• Scientists have created an inventory listing more than 350,000 chemicals registered for production and use. Description: The US High Production Volume (USHPV) database contains the High Production Volume (HPV) Challenge Program.
• EPA is mandating HPV chemical testing under Section 4 of the Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA).

Air Pollution

• Common sources include:
• Routine emissions.
• Accidental releases.
• Mobile Sources.
• Forest Fires.
• When emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitric oxide from stationary sources are transported by winds, they form secondary pollutants (nitrogen dioxide, nitric acid vapor) and acidic solutions (sulfuric acid, sulfate, and nitrate salts).
• These lead to acid rain and acid deposition.
• Smog is a mixture of air pollutants and particulates.
• It has a distinctive brownish haze.
• Smog is mostly ground level ozone, a highly poisonous gas.

Land Pollution

• It is caused by any of two forms of substance:
• Solid waste (plastic, metal, paper, etc.)
• Chemicals (herbicides, pesticides, crude oil, etc.)
• Land pollution often leads to water pollution, as chemicals are washed into rivers, lakes, and aquifers.

Chromium Pollution in Sukinda Valley, India

• The Sukinda Valley in Odisha is one of the world's most polluted sites, according to the Blacksmith Institute.
• Open-cast mining practices have left about 7.6 million tonnes of waste.
• 97% of India's proven chromite is in Sukinda Valley covering approximately 200 square km.
• About 70% of the surface and 60% of the drinking water has Cr(VI) at more than double the national standards.

Chromium 6 Contamination

• Hinkley, CA was contaminated with chromium 6.
• From 1952 to 1966, PG&E dumped 370 million gallons of chromium-contaminated wastewater around Hinkley.
• The aquifer was poisoned with arsenic.
• There are over 500 abandoned uranium mines on Navajo lands.

Navajo Nation Uranium Contamination

• The Navajo Nation was founded in 1868 and is the largest Native American reservation
• The reservation spans 27,425 square miles across Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah.

Consequences of Land Pollution

• It exterminates wildlife
• It causes:
• Acid rain which kills trees and plants.
• Vegetation destruction. It disrupts the balance of nature and causes possible fatalities;
• Pesticides harm birds, bees, animals, fish, and humans.
• Most pesticides kill more than target life forms.

Water Pollution

• Contributors of water pollution can be put into two groups:
• Point sources
• Non-point sources
• Point sources are easier to identify and control such as:
• Waste products from factories.
• Waste from factories
• From sewage systems
• Power plants
• Underground coal mines
• Oil wells
• Point sources are direct water pollution sources that can be reduced and monitored.
• Nonpoint sources include:
  • Rain or snow picking up pollutants and moving towards major bodies of water.
  • Fertilizer runoff from farms.
  • Air pollutants being washed into the earth.
  • Storm water drainage in parking lots, streets, and yards.
• Water Pollution can be caused by:
• Inorganic materials, such as alkalis, acids, inorganic salts.
• Heavy Metals, such as chromium, mercury, and nickel.
• Disinfection byproducts and pesticides.
• Physical factors like temperature or turbidity.
• Groundwater pollution causes:
• Hazardous waste injection wells.
• Coal strip mine runoff or De-icing road salt.
• Pesticides and buried gasoline.
• Waste and water pumping wells and gasoline stations.
• Cesspool and sewage leaks and/or water pumping wells.
• The Great Lakes are afflicted by the pollutant Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
• PCBs are endocrine-disrupting chemicals.
• Flint, Michigan, had a lead crisis that began in April 2014. Lack of corrosion inhibitors and high lead levels from leaching pipes caused a serious public health danger. Between 6,000 to 12,000 children were exposed to drinking water with high levels of lead. This caused neurological and behavioral effects, lowered IQ and was almost irreversible.

What are EDCs?

• EDCs are endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs).
• The word "endocrine" refers to a bodily system involving hormones.
• According to the World Health Organization, lead impacts a child's brain development, lowering IQ and creating behavioral changes which are often irreversible.
• Endocrine disruptors are synthetic man-made chemicals and natural phytoestrogens.
• EDCs act on the endocrine systems of animals and humans by mimicking, blocking, or interfering with natural hormone instructions to cells.
• Examples of EDC action:
• Mimicking natural hormones
• Blocking natural hormones
• Changing hormone levels

Commonly Referred to as

• Environmental estrogens.
• Hormone mimickers.
• Xenoestrogens.
• Anti-androgens.
• Endocrine Disruptors.
• Endocrine-active Compounds.
• Stressors.
• They can be natural or synthetic.
• Many items we use every day are sources of EDCs, such as pesticides, herbicides and fungicides to name a few.
• Examples of natural Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals:
• Phytoestrogens (eg. Genistein from soy)
• Fungal estrogens (eg. Zearalenone, a nonsteroidal estrogenic mycotoxin produced by numerous Fusarium molds)
• Examples of synthetic Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals:
• Hormones
• Some pesticides
• Industrial by-products ("dioxin-like")
• Pharmaceuticals, eg., birth control pills
• Some persistent organic pollutants (POPs)
• They differ in how they are produced, how they interact with the body, and how long they last in the environment.
• EDCs in the environment can disrupt the human endocrine system at one part per trillion. This can cause permanent physical and mental abnormalities.
• The timing of exposure is important. Damage is typically determined in the developing organism. Manifestations may only occur till maturity.
• EPA has many testing programs for EDCs but needs more rigorous testing practices.
• The health effects are alterations to sexual and functional development. Also include, neurological disorders, diabetes, immunological disorders and early puberty in girls. Caner is also an effect of EDCs with possible origins in:
• Breast, colon, vaginal, endometrium, cervix, testicular.
• Sexual differentiation of target tissues.

EDCS Exploit Innocent Children

• All children, without exception, are exposed to toxic synthetic chemicals before birth and continuing through their lives. • There is now a global health concern on EDCs. If EDCs are not regulated, there will be an extensive dysfunction at the population level. The following can result from disruption of endocrine systems:

• Female reproductive health
• Male reproductive health
• Sex ratio in humans
• Thyroid-related disorders and diseases
• Neurodevelopment in children and wildlife
• Hormone-related cancers
• Adrenal disorders in humans and wildlife
• Immune function, immune diseases, and disorders
• Metabolic disorders
• Wildlife population & sustainability loss

Explore the effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) on the endocrine system. Learn about the roles of glands like the pituitary and adrenal glands. Understand pollution types, sources, and impacts, including the CrVI contamination incident in Hinkley, California.