Posted by Article on 4/8/2001, 12:36 am

Environmental Health Watch Today there are 5 million girls and women in the United States who have endometriosis, along with another half million in Canada and millions more worldwide. For those with endo, life is often a nightmare of misinformation, myths, taboos, improper diagnoses, and problematic hit and miss treatments. It is debilitating and incurable, often beginning as young as 10 or 11, and knows no racial or socioeconomic barriers. Current research findings indicate that endometriosis is really just the tip of a much larger iceberg, one that encompasses a range of health problems sharing one key commonality: hormonal/ immune dysfunction. The results of a 1998 Endometriosis Association survey, presented at the 6th World Congress on Endometriosis, provide startling data about the disease. The percentage of women with endometriosis reporting symptoms before the age of 15 has jumped from 15 percent during the early to mid-1980s to 38 percent in 1998. Early onset of the disease is highly correlated with increased severity. This disturbing trend provides a grim future for girls and young women as more will experience severe life disruption because of endo related disability. There is mounting evidence that links endometriosis to dioxin (a group of toxic chemicals containing known and probable carcinogens), PCBs and other endocrine disruptors (chemicals which act like hormones in our bodies and disrupt the immune system). A 1992 study funded by the Endometriosis Association analyzed rhesus monkeys exposed for four years to TCDD (the most toxic form of dioxin). Two important conclusions of the study revealed that, "the incidence of endometriosis was directly correlated with dioxin exposure and the severity of the disease was dependent upon the dose administered," and that, "chronic exposure to the chemical toxin dioxin is directly correlated with an increased incidence in the development of endometriosis in rhesus monkeys." This landmark study has been followed by other research which supports these findings, including recent studies which reveal that women with endometriosis and their families have a greater risk of developing breast cancer, ovarian cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and melanoma. In addition to these findings, the Environmental Protection Agency stated in its 1994 Dioxin Reassessment draft that the "general population's current body burdens and exposures of dioxin are already at levels which affect our health." One of the health effects that the EPA specifically identifies is a "higher probability of experiencing endometriosis and the reduced ability to withstand an immunological challenge." The consequences of exposure to persistent chemicals like dioxin are serious and irreversible. Once in our bodies they remain there accumulating over time, mimicking natural hormones, disrupting our immune systems, and causing ill health. As families who suffer because of endometriosis, we have the right to know about our exposure to these toxins. As members of our communities, we have the right to demand the elimination of these chemicals from our environment in order to protect us all. The Endometriosis Association supports the public's right to know and actively participates in community efforts to stop exposure to dioxins so human health and the environment will no longer be compromised. If you would like to learn more about toxins and their role in endometriosis, please contact Kim Kelly, Environmental Coordinator. The time has come for women with endometriosis to take action on this issue so that no family will again have to experience the horror of watching loved ones live with painful, chronic diseases that could have been prevented. Help us prevent another generation of endometriosis.

Link: EA Article Online