Seattle study links long-banned pesticides to infertility

Pesticides that are rarely used any longer in the U.S. are linked to a medical condition in women that can lead to infertility, according to findings from a study done by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

The research involved women diagnosed with endometriosis, whose common symptoms include pelvic pain, menstrual pain, and infertility. It’s a condition found in up to ten percent of women of child-bearing age.

Researchers were surprised to find traces of two organochlorine pesticides in some blood samples, even though they’ve been largely banned in the U.S. for decades. Findings show that women with higher exposures to two of the pesticides had a 30 to 70 percent increased risk of endometriosis.

The class of pesticides researchers studied was used extensively from the 1940s through the 1960s in agriculture and mosquito control.

Endometriosis is non-cancerous, estrogen-driven condition. Researchers believe organochlorine pesticides can increase the risk of an estrogen-driven condition, such as endometriosis, by altering the function of the uterus and ovaries.

The study was conducted among about 250 newly-diagnosed women and 538 women without the disease.

Researchers say their takeaway from the study is that persistent environmental chemicals can impact women of reproductive age, even many years after the chemicals were last used.

It’s not known why endometriosis shows up in some women and not others. Researchers hope these findings are another piece to that puzzle.

The findings from the study are published online and in the print edition of Environmental Health Perspectives, a journal of the National Institutes of Health.