The Increasing Prevalence in Intersex Variation from Toxicological Dysregulation in Fetal Reproductive Tissue Differentiation and Development by Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals

An increasing number of children are born with intersex variation (IV; ambiguous genitalia/hermaphrodite, pseudohermaphroditism, etc.). Evidence shows that endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in the environment can cause reproductive variation through dysregulation of normal reproductive tissue di...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEnvironmental Health Insights Vol. 2016; no. 2016; pp. 163 - 171
Main Authors Rich, Alisa L., Phipps, Laura M., Tiwari, Sweta, Rudraraju, Hemanth, Dokpesi, Philip O.
Format Journal Article Book Review
LanguageEnglish
Published London, England Libertas Academica 01.01.2016
SAGE Publishing
SAGE Publications
Sage Publications Ltd
Subjects
Bisphenol A
Chemicals
Children
Differences of sex development
Differentiation (biology)
Dioxins
Disruption
Embryos
Endocrine disruptors
Exposure
Fetuses
Furans
Gender
Hermaphrodites
Intersex people
Offspring
Organic compounds
Organochlorine pesticides
PCB
Pesticides
Polychlorinated biphenyls
Pseudohermaphroditism
Reptiles
Review
Sex reversal
Variation
reproductive birth defect
ambiguous genitalia
endocrine disrupting chemicals
pesticides
fetal development
intersex variation
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Summary:An increasing number of children are born with intersex variation (IV; ambiguous genitalia/hermaphrodite, pseudohermaphroditism, etc.). Evidence shows that endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in the environment can cause reproductive variation through dysregulation of normal reproductive tissue differentiation, growth, and maturation if the fetus is exposed to EDCs during critical developmental times in utero. Animal studies support fish and reptile embryos exhibited IV and sex reversal when exposed to EDCs. Occupational studies verified higher prevalence of offspring with IV in chemically exposed workers (male and female). Chemicals associated with endocrine-disrupting ability in humans include organochlorine pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls, bisphenol A, phthalates, dioxins, and furans. Intersex individuals may have concurrent physical disorders requiring lifelong medical intervention and experience gender dysphoria. An urgent need exists to determine which chemicals possess the greatest risk for IV and the mechanisms by which these chemicals are capable of interfering with normal physiological development in children.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ISSN:1178-6302
1178-6302
DOI:10.4137/EHI.S39825