The Philippine CancerPhenome Biobank Project held its first symposium on February 18, 2019 on Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs ) and their effects on health as part of its inauguration.
The speakers were experts from the University of California in San Francisco (UCSF) Dr. Linda Giudice and Dr. Roy Gerona, UP College of Medicine Associate Professor and PGH attending consultant Dr. Erlinda Llamas Clark, and UP Diliman professor Dr. Michael Velarde.
Dr. Clark defined EDCs as synthetic materials that interfere with the body’s endocrine system. They interfere with natural hormones and they regulate many important physiological activities by exhibiting hormone-like effects that disturb signals of an organism. She added that chemicals in the environment may be disrupting the hormones and causing health problems both in wildlife and humans.
“US and global chemical production has increased several hundred-fold since World War II and people become exposed to these chemicals in numerous ways, such as in agriculture, use of personal care and household products, indoor and outdoor air pollution and water pollution,” stated Dr. Giudice, Professor and Chair Emeritus at the UCSF Reproductive Sciences. She explained that three generations at once are exposed to environmental conditions. The mother is the first generation, the fetus is the second generation, and the reproductive cells of the fetus is the third generation. She added that epigenetic change must be observed in the fourth generation that was never directly exposed to the toxicant because there are several chemicals that have transgenerational effects.
Environmental contaminants, she added, are found in pregnant women and to some extent in babies who are born pre-polluted. These include tobacco smoke, lead, perfluorinated compounds, perchlorate, mercury, phthalates, and bisphenol A. “They correlate with promoting obesity (obesogens) while others are diabetogens, thyroid and neurodevelopmental disruptors, and reproductive and fertility disruptors.”
Dr. Giudice mentioned possible solutions to EDCs. First is to replace hazardous chemicals processes and products with safer alternatives. However, she warned that many of the so-called safer alternatives in the market are not really safe at all as some are even more disruptive.
Next, is to establish a methodology to evaluate the data on the effects of environmental toxins on human health. “This is called biomonitoring which is the measurement of the body burden of environmental chemicals or their metabolites in biological samples. The most common biological samples used for biomonitoring are blood and urine,” stated Dr. Gerona who is assistant professor at the UCSF Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences. Dr. Gerona presented the findings of the Philippine California Advanced Research Institute (PCARI)-sponsored research of UP-PGH and UP Diliman that looked into the possible influence of environmental health in the etiology of breast cancer. In this study, 75 breast cancer patients and 75 healthy controls were recruited to donate their urine and hair samples and for the administration of an exposure questionnaire.
“We measured about 41 EDCs in 145 subjects. Thirty of the 41 were also bio monitored by the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHAMES) which gave us the ability to actually compare the levels that we’re seeing here in the Philippines to the United States. Nineteen of the 30 biomonitored have equal or greater levels in the Philippine cohort. Thirteen of the 19 have about 3 to 12 times higher in the Philippine cohort. We found six EDCs in the Philippines that are not biomonitored by (NHAMES) and nine EDCs were significantly higher in cancer patients than the healthy controls,” reported Dr. Gerona.
Dr. Giudice enumerated measures on how to limit exposure to EDCs and improve health. These are eating organic food; washing all fruits and vegetables and hands thoroughly; minimizing the use of plastics, dry cleaning, canned goods, and pesticides; no to smoking, second-hand smoke, and alcohol; using alternative household cleaning products, such as soap and ammonia, baking soda and fresh air; using phthalate-free makeup and other personal care products; avoiding hand sanitizers and digital paper receipt handling; avoiding high particulate matter air pollution if possible; and avoiding lead and other heavy metal exposures.
“The PGH Biobank can help with the bio-monitoring program and the ability to culture Filipino cells that can test not only endocrine disrupting levels but also other types of diseases and these are for drug discovery or precision medicine. We are hoping that this biobank can be more national (in scope) and not just here in PGH,” said Dr. Velarde. The symposium was sponsored by the Commission on Higher Education and PCARI.
CHARMAINE LINGDAS | Published in UP Manila Healthscape No. 372 (January – February 2019)
