Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco have identified 109 chemicals in a study of pregnant women, including 55 chemicals that have never been reported in humans before and 42 “mystery chemicals”, the sources and uses of which are unknown.
The chemicals are likely to come from consumer products or other industrial sources. They have been found in the blood of pregnant women as well as their newborn children, indicating that they are traveling through the mother’s placenta.
The study was published on March 16, 2021 in Environmental Science and Technology.
“These chemicals have probably been present in humans for some time, but our technology is now helping us identify more of them,” said Tracey J. Woodruff, PhD, a professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at UCSF.
A former U.S. environmental protection scientist, Woodruff, leads the Reproductive Health and Environment Program (PRHE) and the Center for Environmental Research and Translation for Health (EaRTH), both at UCSF.
“It is worrying that we continue to see certain chemicals from pregnant women move on to their children, which means these chemicals can be with us for generations,” she said.
The scientific team used high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) to identify chemicals produced by humans in humans.
Although these chemicals can be tentatively identified with chemical libraries, they need to be confirmed by comparing them to the pure chemicals produced by manufacturers known as ‘analytical standards’. And manufacturers do not always make it available.
Recently, for example, the chemical manufacturer Solvay stopped providing access to a chemical standard for one perfluorooctanoic. acid (PFAS) compound that originated as a substitute for phased-out PFAS compounds. The researchers use this chemical standard to evaluate the presence and toxicity of the replacement PFAS.
“These new technologies are promising to enable us to identify more chemicals in humans, but our findings from the study also make it clear that chemical manufacturers need to provide analytical standards so that we can confirm the presence of chemicals and their toxicity. evaluate, “said co-leader. author Dimitri Panagopoulos Abrahamsson, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow at UCSF’s PRHE.
The 109 chemical researchers found in the blood samples of pregnant women and their newborns are found in many different types of products. For example, 40 are used as plasticizers, 28 in cosmetics, 25 in consumer products, 29 as pharmaceuticals, 23 as pesticides, three as flame retardants, and seven are PFAS compounds, used for carpet, upholstery and other applications. According to the researchers, there may also be other uses for all of these chemicals.
According to the researchers, 55 of the 109 chemicals they have tentatively identified have apparently not been reported to humans before:
- 1 is used as a pesticide (bis (2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidini-4-y) decanedioate)
- 2 are PFASs (methyl perfluoroundecanoate, probably used in the manufacture of non-stick cookware and waterproof material; 2-perfluorecyl ethanoic acid)
- 10 are used as plasticizers (eg Sumilizer GA 80 – used in food packaging, paper plates, small appliances)
- 2 is used in cosmetics
- 4 are high production (HPV) chemicals
- 37 has little to no information on its sources or uses (eg 1- (1-Acetyl-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-4-yl) -3-dodecylpyrrolidine-2,5-dione, which uses is used in the manufacture of fragrances and paints – this chemical is so little known that no acronym currently exists – and (2R0-7-hydroxy-8- (2-hydroxy-ethyl) -5-methoxy-2-, 3-dihydrochromene-4-one (Acronym: LL-D-253alpha), for which there is no information on its uses or sources
“It’s very worrying that we can not identify the uses or sources of so many of these chemicals,” Woodruff said. “EPA needs to work better to require the chemical industry to standardize its reporting on chemical compounds and uses. And they must use their authority to ensure that we have sufficient information to evaluate possible health damage and to remove chemicals that pose a risk from the market. ”
Reference: “Suspicious Screening, Prioritization, and Confirmation of Environmental Chemicals in Mother-Newborn Couples from San Francisco” by Aolin Wang, Dimitri Panagopoulos Abrahamsson, Ting Jiang, Miaomiao Wang, Rachel Morello-Frosch, June-Soo Park, Marina Sirota, and Tracey J. Woodruff, 16 March 2021 ,, Environmental Science and Technology.
DOI: 10.1021 / acs.est.0c05984
Authors: Aolin Wang and Marina Sirota, of UCSF, join Woodruff and Panagopoulos Abrahamsson in the study; Ting Jiang, Miamiao Wang and June-Soo Park of the California Environmental Protection Agency; and Rachel Morello-Frosch of UC Berkeley.
Funding: This study was funded by NIH / NIEHS grant numbers P30-870 ES030284, UG3OD023272, UH3OD023272, P01ES022841, 871 R01ES027051 and by US EPA grant number 872 RD83543301.