Endocrine disrupting chemicals and personal care products: risk awareness and exposure assessment for women's reproductive health

• Main Author: FitzPatrick, Megan
• Other Authors: Mahalingaiah, Shruthi
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: Medicine
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/2144/43358

BACKGROUND Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) pose significant risks to public health because of their ubiquitous nature throughout the environment. Concern regarding these toxic substances is well-justified, with past research highlighting links to male, female, and even transgenerational health defects with increased exposure to these chemicals. Recent studies have revealed that the average American women uses 12 personal care products (PCPs) every day, suggesting females are particularly susceptible to the adverse health outcomes associated with PCP-related EDC exposures (Taylor et al., 2017). OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study is to characterize the role and significance of EDCs found in PCPs by assessing implications of exposure on female reproductive health outcomes. This study also seeks to explore public perceptions of PCP dangers in order to contextualize findings regarding body burden of chemical toxicants from different bioassays. METHODS One component of this project involves a review of publications highlighting the relationship between EDCs and PCPs and how successfully these findings have been communicated to the general public to influence their awareness of the dangers of endocrine disruption (Aims 1A-1C). The second involves the creation of a novel PCP exposure assessment through survey analysis of pre-existing PCP surveys (Aim 2). The last objective centers around an analysis of bioassay-based EDC exposure assessments at the level of the kidney (Aim 3A) and uterus (Aim 3B) from urine and menstrual effluent samples, respectively. RESULTS A scoping review regarding the nature of the relationship between PCPs and EDCs was completed - yielding a total of 255 journal articles included in analysis (Aim 1A). Urinary biomonitoring studies of EDCs populated the majority of this review, and measurable levels of EDCs were highest in this type of bioassay over other types of biological media. Published literature detailing the public’s awareness of EDCs suggests that people are less concerned with the health implications of repeated exposure from PCP usage than they are with environmental health concerns like air and water pollution (Aim 1B). Identification of resources available to consumers for assessment of PCP safety was completed successfully (Aim 1C). Tools at the public’s disposal include webpages, documentaries, and mobile applications. Exploration of 29 PCP questionnaires from outside resources facilitated the expansion of an 18-question cosmetic questionnaire into a 134-question PCP questionnaire to be used in future studies (Aim 2). Analysis of urinary biomonitoring data was unable to be completed because of legal and logistical setbacks in the sharing of the dataset among multiple different institutions (Aim 3A). Analysis of preliminary menstrual effluent biomonitoring data yielded 9,321 metabolites, but results from further confirmatory testing of 68 toxicants are still pending (Aim 3B). CONCLUSION Taken together, the findings suggest that urinary assessments are a preferable method for scientists to use in bioassays to characterize relative amounts of EDCs within PCPs. While biomonitoring studies are valuable in conveying information regarding sociodemographic contributors towards heightened exposure and associated adverse health outcomes, a lack of awareness among the public suggests that additional efforts must be undertaken to stress the potential implications of these toxicants on environmental health – particularly in females. Continued looks at PCP usage patterns and EDC exposure assessments in different biological media like menstrual blood are important next steps for further analysis, and implementation of the expanded PCP Questionnaire and use of the PCP Chemical Library may be of use for this process.