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8. Reproductive and Developmental Effects
Pages 450-483

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From page 450...
... , or as congenital malformations (following birth)
From page 451...
... , prolonged high fever, some drugs and medications (such as hormone treatments and cimetidine) , some injuries, and some occupational exposures (such as to lead and to the pesticide dibromochioropropane)
From page 452...
... Furthermore, it was expected that there would be differences due to age; however, among the carbaryl workers, the relationship between age and percentage of abnormal structure was opposite what was expected, in that younger men had a higher percentage of sperm abnormalities. Several studies have examined the relationship between semen characteristics and exposure to broader categories of pesticides.
From page 453...
... Because of their broad definitions of pesticide exposure, these two studies do not provide specific insight into the relationship between insecticides under consideration exposure and sperm characteristics. Additional Indirect Studies of Infertility A case-control study of Danish couples undergoing infertility examinations used mailed questionnaires about occupational exposure (Rachootin and Olsen, 1983~.
From page 454...
... . When overall pesticide exposure was analyzed with control for maternal and paternal smoking, maternal age, parity, and other factors, a slightly increased fecundability ratio (decreased TTP)
From page 455...
... It did not show delayed TIP for either maternal or paternal exposure, although there was a suggestion of delayed time to conception for women who used organophosphates and carbaryI. Other studies considered pesticide exposures that were too broad for the purposes of this review.
From page 456...
... A case~ontrol study in the Netherlands examined the relationship between occupational exposures and semen characteristics in the male partners of couples that had art infertility consultation (Tielemans et al., 1 999~. The 899 participants were asked to provide a semen sample and to complete detailed questionnaires regarding their occupational history.
From page 457...
... Of the participants, 22 were classified as exposed to solvents. In a comparison among all study subjects, the study found associations between solvent exposure and several measures of abnormal semen characteristics (based on WHO guidelines)
From page 458...
... (The derivation of the subgroups was described above where this study was considered with respect to pesticides.) The participants completed a questionnaire asking about occupational exposures, which included degreasers, dry-cleaning chemicals, and other organic solvents.
From page 459...
... Nor did this study find effects on TTP for specific solvent exposures; for example, for intermediate/high exposure to trichloroethylene the investigators found an FDR of 1.03 (95% CI= 0.60-1.76~. Several studies have examined the reproductive histories of semiconductor workers with a focus on exposure to ethylene glycol ethers.
From page 460...
... Summary and Conclusion Although a number of studies have examined the potential effects of occupational exposure to solvents on semen charactenstics, few studies have investigated persistent effects after cessation of solvent exposure. There is evidence from animal studies that exposure to specific solvents, particularly ethylene glyco]
From page 461...
... . Several maternal occupational exposures have been associated with the risk of spontaneous
From page 462...
... They compared the possible maternal exposure for 3 ~ 9 cases (explicitly not due to congenital malformations) with that of the mothers of 61 ~ live births during the same period.
From page 463...
... , but was severely limited by lack of details on selection and recruitment of study subjects, and crude exposure measurement. Data from the Ontario Farm Family Health Study were used in two epidemiologic studies regarding pregnancy outcomes.
From page 464...
... Two studies examined the same cohort of farm couples and found some evidence of a relationship between exposure to carbary} and spontaneous abortion; however, their usefulness is limited by the length of time between when the events of interest occurred and when the information was gathered for the study. The committee concludes, from its assessment of the epidemiologic literature, that there is inadequate/insuff~cient evidence to determine whether an association exists between maternal or paternal preconception exposure to the insecticides under review and spontaneous abortion or other adverse pregnancy outcomes.
From page 465...
... A later study found positive associations between high potential exposure to ethylene glycol ethers and spontaneous abortion in female employees in two semiconductor manufacturing plants with an indication of a trend of increased risk of spontaneous abortion with higher potential exposure (Correct et al., 1996~. Several other studies of workers in the semiconductor or electronics manufacturing industries have produced inconsistent results.
From page 466...
... examined maternal occupational solvent exposure among the residents of Santa Clara County, California, an area where possible effects of contaminated drinking water on pregnancy outcomes had been of concern. An increased risk of spontaneous abortion was associated with first-trimester solvent exposure (OR = 3.34, 95% CT = 1.42-7.~)
From page 467...
... Another study in Finland examined spontaneous abortion and congenital malformations for a group of 120 male workers, many of whom had been biologically monitored for organicsolvent exposure by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (Taskinen et al., 1 989)
From page 468...
... The committee concludes, from its assessment of the epidemiologic literature, that there is inadequate/insufficient evidence to determine whether an association exists between maternal or paternal preconception exposure to specific organic solvents under review or solvent mixtures and spontaneous abortion or other adverse pregnancy outcomes. TABLE 8.4 Selected Epidemiologic Studies: Spontaneous Abortion and Paternal Exposure to Organic Solvents Reference Population Exposed Estimated Relative Cases Risk (95% CI)
From page 469...
... manifestation is influenced by the genetic constitution of the mother and fetus. The evaluation of the etiology of specific congenital malformations is difficult because of the rarity of each type, for example, the prevalence of spine bifida is generally reported to be 4.6 cases per 10,000 births (Lary and Edmonds, ]
From page 470...
... compared maternal pesticide exposure in cases of selected congenital anomalies (662 orofacial clefts, 207 conotruncal defects, 165 limb defects, and 265 NTDs) ascertained by the California Birth Defects Monitoring Program and 734 randomly selected controls born in the same geographic area and period (1987-1989~.
From page 471...
... described above examined conotruncal heart defects and maternal pesticide exposure during the period from ~ month before to 3 months after conception. The study found positive associations with several categories of exposure, including maternal application of pesticides during gardening (OR = 3.
From page 472...
... . Summary and Conclusion Although there have been numerous studies on the relationship between congenital malformations and various sources of parental pesticide exposure, few have looked at the relationship between congenital malformations and insecticides, particularly the specific insecticides examined in this report (Table 8.5~.
From page 473...
... The committee concludes, from its assessment of the epidemiologic literature, that there is inadequate/insufficient evidence to determine whether an association exists between maternal or paternal preconception exposure to the insecticides under review and congenital malformations. TABLE 8.5 Selected Epidemiologic Studies: Congenital Malfonnations and Exposure to Insecticides Reference Population Exposed Estimated Relative Cases Risk (95% CI)
From page 474...
... The investigators did not find an increased risk associated with paternal exposure to solvents at any level (OR = 0.7, 95°/O CT = 0.~.~) , low solvent exposure (OR = 0.6)
From page 475...
... The estimates of the risk of oral clefts associated with other categories of solvent exposures were not markedly elevated. Maternal occupational exposures during pregnancy were also the focus of studies by Cordier and colleagues.
From page 476...
... 988) examined occupational risks of congenital malformations in 47,91 3 pregnancies of women in Montreal and found no evidence of increased risk of congenital malformations associated with solvent exposure in any of the groups.
From page 477...
... All organic solvents Children boo th gas~oschisis Maternal exposure from preconception through first trimester All solvents, low exposure All solvents, high exposure Aromatic hydrocarbons, high exposure Glycols Paternal occupational exposure (3 months before conception to 1 month after conception) Solvents Low Moderate or high 143 26 75 26 21 0.87 (0.67-1.1)
From page 478...
... 1997. Congenital malformations and maternal occupational exposure to glycol ethers.
From page 479...
... 1998. Paternal exposure to pesticides and congenital malformations.
From page 480...
... 1989. Spontaneous abortions and congenital malformations among women exposed to tetrachloroethylene in dry cleaning.
From page 481...
... American Journal of Industrial Medicine 27~5~:699-713. Sallmen M, Lindbohm ML, Anttila A, Kyyronen P
From page 482...
... 1989. Spontaneous abortions and congenital malformations among the wives of men occupationally exposed to organic solvents.
From page 483...
... American Journal of Industrial Medicine 21~3~:397~08. Zielhuis GA, Gijsen R


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