A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Granada (UGR) makes it possible to establish a relationship between the exposure of minors to different pesticides and fungicides and early development, breasts in girls and genitals in boys.
The work, published in the scientific journal Environmental pollutionno analyzes urine samples from 606 girls and 933 boysaged between 7 and 11, who participated in the INMA study in the period 2010-2016.
The study, which was carried out a follow-up of more than 20 years to children in all five cities of Spain (including Granada), was presented by Carmen Freire, researcher at the Biosanitary Research Institute and the Biomedical Research Center in Epidemiology and Public Health Network, and Nicolás Olea, professor in the Department of Radiology and Physical Medicine of the UGR. Both underlined the lack of existing studies on the subject, despite the fact that the advancement of pubertal development is “a fact frequently observed in the pediatric clinic, especially in girls, and whose causes are not well understoodaccording to Freire.
In the case of girls, as Olea specifies, this early development can translate into an increased likelihood of breast cancersince studies managed by the UGR suggest that the risk of suffering from this disease in Granada is often associated with an early entry into puberty.
This professor, known for his fight against the presence of plastic in daily life, also points out that, in the case of girls, in addition to other problems such as fertility, early puberty has a psychological effectsince being the first in his circle to develop, he can create an uncomfortable situation for her and “notice himself different” from the rest.
In the case of children, Olea indicates, these problems also concern their entry into maturity, but excludes that there is an increased risk of suffering, for example, prostate cancer, as this usually occurs with increasing age, so there would not be a significant increase in incidence in this case.
In most cases, the intake of these substances occurs through the diet, in particular, through the consumption of fruit and vegetables of conventional production. This is due, explain those responsible for the study, to the fact that Spain is the “European champion” in the production of pesticides, using 77,700 tons of pesticides in 2020, of which 34,000 tons of fungicides, the largest group, according to the information provided from the UGR. To this must be added the pesticides that are consumed due to their use in urban and domestic environments.
Once in the human body, these pesticides are rapidly metabolized and excreted in the urine. Experimental studies suggest that some non-persistent pesticides may act as endocrine disrupting chemicals, known as endocrine disruptors. The increase in exposure to these endocrine disruptors in recent decades may be one of the factors responsible for the trend towards early onset of puberty in girls, and possibly boys as well.
In summary, Freire points out, “the results suggest an association between childhood exposure to fungicides and some insecticides with precocious puberty in girls and boys. These findings are very worrying since early puberty It has been linked to several disorders in childhood and adolescence, with belated consequences on their health”.
Olea, for her part, points out that this is surprising over 60% of girls and boys have organophosphate pesticides in their urine, with diazinon leading the list, followed by fungicides, in more than half of the population, and then chlorpyrifos and pyrethroids, found in around 40% of children. “This is something that should never have happened,” she said.
The positive side, according to Olea, is that it is a reversible consequence and with a change in diet, the trend can be reversed. In fact, the researcher indicates four recommendations: eat in season, consume local products, do not eat processed foods and pay a fair price for food.
In this sense, by way of conclusion, the researcher recalls the combination of healthy and sustainable, an idea that has been in force in academia since 2019 and which argues that what is good for the environment must also be good for human beings, since both parts form a whole.
