Exposure to chemicals found in plastic food containers, personal care products and household construction materials has been linked to endometriosis, a reproductive disorder that causes pain and infertility in millions of women worldwide. The study, published last week in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, also found a connection between uterine fibroids and to DDE, a component of the insecticide DDT.
As CNN reports:
[New York University Professor Leonardo] Trasande and his colleagues determined that 56,700 cases of fibroids among women in Europe were probably due to DDE exposure, and 145,000 cases of endometriosis were probably caused by phthalates. The researchers arrived at these estimates through studies that looked at typical DDE exposures in women of reproductive age in Europe and the association between DDE levels in the blood and fibroid diagnoses.
Read more on CNN.com.
