Researchers link organochlorine pesticides to gynecological disorder

(http://health.usnews.com) Researchers have published a new study in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives detailing how two pesticides classified as "organochlorines" are associated with an increased risk of endometriosis. Endometriosis is a health problem that affects 10 percent of reproductive-age women, or 5 million U.S. women, and causes the tissue lining the uterus to grow outside the uterine cavity; it can cause severe pain and infertility.

Researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center analyzed 248 women newly diagnosed with endometriosis and compared them to 538 women without the disease. The study found that those who had greater exposure to two organochlorine pesticides, beta-hexachlorocyclohexane and mirex, had a 30 to 70 percent increased risk of endometriosis.

"We found it interesting that despite organochlorine pesticides being restricted in use or banned in the U.S. for the past several decades, these chemicals were detectable in the blood samples of women in our study and were associated with increased endometriosis risk," the lead author of the study, Kate Upson, PhD, said. "The take-home message from our study is that persistent environmental chemicals, even those used in the past, may affect the health of the current generation of reproductive-age women with regard to a hormonally driven disease."

Victoria Holt, PhD, the study's principal investigator, said, "This research is important, as endometriosis is a serious condition that can adversely affect the quality of a woman's life, yet we still do not have a clear understanding of why endometriosis develops in some women but not in others. Our study provides another piece of the puzzle."