Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
BACKGROUND: Africa faces a number of unique environmental challenges. Unfortunately, it lacks the infrastructure needed to support the comprehensive environmental studies that could provide the scientific basis to inform environmental policies. There are a number of known sources of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and other hazardous chemicals in Africa. However, a coordinated approach to identify and monitor these contaminants and to develop strategies for public health interventions has not yet been made. OBJECTIVES: This commentary summarizes the scientific evidence presented by experts at the First African Endocrine Disruptors meeting. We describe a "call to action" to utilize the available scientific knowledge to address the impact of EDCs on human and wildlife health in Africa. DISCUSSION: We identify existing knowledge gaps about exposures to EDCs in Africa and describe how well-designed research strategies are needed to address these gaps. A lack of resources for research and a lag in policy implementation slows down intervention strategies and poses a challenge to advancing future health in Africa. CONCLUSION: To address the many challenges posed by EDCs, we argue that Africans should take the lead in prioritization and evaluation of environmental hazards, including EDCs. We recommend the institution of education and training programs for chemical users, adoption of the precautionary principle, establishment of biomonitoring programs, and funding of community-based epidemiology and wildlife research programs led and funded by African institutes and private companies. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP1774.
Environmental Health Perspectives

hal-01616487
https://hal-univ-rennes1.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01616487
DOI : 10.1289/EHP1774
PUBMED : 28935616

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
BACKGROUND: Numerous chemicals are capable of disrupting androgen production, but the possibility that they might act together to produce effects greater than those of the most effective component in the mixture has not been studied directly in human tissues. Suppression of androgen synthesis in fetal life has been associated with testis maldescent, malformations of the genitalia at birth, and poor semen quality later in life. OBJECTIVES: Our aim was to investigate whether chemicals can act together to disrupt androgen production in human fetal testis explants and to evaluate the importance of mixture effects when characterizing the hazard of individual chemicals. METHODS: We used an organotypic culture system of human fetal testes explants called FEtal Gonad Assay (FEGA) with tissue obtained at 10 and 12 gestational wk (GW 10-12), to screen 27 chemicals individually for their possible anti-androgenic effect. Based on the results of the screen, we selected 11 compounds and tested them as mixtures. RESULTS: We evaluated mixtures composed of four and eight antiandrogens that contained the pharmaceuticals ketoconazole and theophylline and several previously untested chemicals, such as the pesticides imazalil and propiconazole. Mixtures of antiandrogens can suppress testosterone synthesis in human fetal testicular explants to an extent greater than that seen with individual chemicals. This revealed itself as a shift towards lower doses in the dose-response curves of individual antiandrogens that became more pronounced as the number of components increased from four to eight. CONCLUSIONS: Our results with the FEGA provide the foundations of a predictive human mixture risk assessment approach for anti-androgenic exposures in fetal life. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP1014.
Environmental Health Perspectives

hal-01579609
https://hal-univ-rennes1.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01579609
DOI : 10.1289/EHP1014
PUBMED : 28796631