Study Links Pesticides to Endometriosis

A recent study reports that two specific pesticides can increase the risk of contracting Endometriosis, which is a well known women’s health condition that affects ten percent of females of childbearing age.

With Endometriosis, the tissue lining the uterus proliferates outside of the womb. In some instances, as well as causing pain, this can lead to infertility. In the US alone, five million women suffer from this disorder.

Researchers compared 538 healthy women with 248 women, who were recently diagnosed with Endometriosis. They discovered that women who had received the most exposure to two particular pesticides (classed as “organochlorines”) were thirty to seventy percent more likely to contract Endometriosis.

This study, which was published online in the Environmental Health Perspectives Journal on November 4, names the two pesticides as mirex and beta hexachlorocyclohexane.  Both are chemicals normally found in insect-control pesticides that have been banned in the US.  However, small amounts have also been found in dairy and fish products.

The study establishes a link between an increased risk of Endometriosis and exposure to the aforementioned pesticides. However, it does not account for why the condition appears in some people but not others.

Nonetheless, the best advice for women who want to have children would be to avoid these two pesticides at all costs.