What are the health effects from exposure to environmental hormones?
These chemicals can reduce fertility. They may also play a role in the development of cancers and reproductive disorders like endometriosis. In infants and fetuses, environmental hormones can also affect the developing reproductive and nervous systems and organs. Some common environmental hormones known to affect human health are: • Dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT), a pesticide now banned in the United States, and some other pesticides. • Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), chemicals that are banned for most uses in the United States but remain in soil and water. • Diethylstilbestrol (DES), a drug used to prevent miscarriages until it was banned in the 1970s. Some daughters of women who took DES have developed reproductive problems and vaginal and cervical cancer. • Phthalates (THAL-ayts) and bisphenol A (BPA), endocrine disruptors commonly used in plastics. Research suggests these chemicals may affect fetal development. Scientists are still studying these substances in order to u
