Endocrine Disruptors

Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that are ingested from our external environment through our skin, respiratory tracks, and mouth. 

Once inside the body, they mimic the body’s hormones, which can cause dysregulation of the endocrine system. 

The endocrine system regulates and mitigates the function of our hormones, which in turn regulate the function of many of our physiological processes, such as digestion, sleep/wake cycle, skin repair, metabolism, blood pressures, stress response, emotional regulation, and reproduction. In short, the endocrine system is a significant part of our human physiology. 

Therefore, when chemicals disrupt or dysregulate this system, it is has the potential to be part of the disease pathology of a wide range of diseases and illnesses. 

Endocrine disruptors have been linked to various cancers, including those in our reproductive system, depression, anxiety, Parkinson’s, dementia, autoimmune disorders, obesity, diabetes, miscarriages, neurodevelopmental disruption in the womb, and the list continues. ( Sources 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 )

Endocrine disruptors are mainly man-made due to industrialisation. As this list highlights, they have been insidiously introduced to every single part of our life. 

Without strict regulation that supports life rather than capital, they are almost impossible to avoid. Furthermore, as materiality can be cheaper to produce with endocrine disruptors, those who are economically impoverished due to societal discriminants and marginalisation are the most exposed. 

For instance, cheap social housing that contains cheap and synthetic materiality in carpets, furniture, paint, and walls contains endocrine disruptors. 

Another factor to consider when it comes to the inequity of exposure is that the multi-–ethnic working class also has more exposure due to working in many of the places that produce materiality with endocrine disruptors, or their work requires them to be in close and constant contact with endocrine disruptors. Hygiene workers, long-haul drivers, factory workers, nurses, miners, etc. are all over-exposed to endocrine disruptors. (Sources 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 )

EXAMPLES OF WHERE ENDOCRINE DISRUPTORS CAN BE FOUND

• Animal products

  Non-organic and mass-industrialised animal products contain EDs, as they are put in their feed. We ingest the EDs through the consumption of these animals.

• Built environment materiality

  All indoor and outdoor built environments contain EDs. From the asphalt that paves our roads, to the paint, carpets, and furniture we use in our homes, to the air pollution from all vehicles (including electric vehicles).

• Clothes

  Clothes that use certain dyes and petrol-based materials, such as fleeces, rayon, polyester, etc.

• Cleaning materials

  All non-natural cleaning materials at both industry and home level contain EDs: this includes washing-up liquid, fabric softeners, washing detergent, and surface cleaners.

• Cooking ware

  Teflon and heated plastic, including food containers.

• Cosmetics

  Unless you are using all-natural products, such as coconut oil, most cosmetics including shampoo, conditioners, relaxers, face and body creams, make-up, etc. all contain EDs.

• Food

  Any food that is mass-produced and non-organic will contain EDs due to the use of pesticides: fruit, vegetables, canned products, and dried products.

• Food processing

  Many canned and processed foods contain BPAs (which is an endocrine disruptor).

• Landfill sites

  Depending on the type of rubbish and how it is treated, these sites can be full of endocrine disruptors.

• Industrial sites

  Any place where there is industrial activity will contain a range of endocrine disruptors. Examples are: construction, warehouses, air ports, chemical plants, and commercial, non-organic farms.

• Pesticides

  Are sprayed on crops and are ingested through respiratory tract, skin, and when we eat food contaminated with pesticides.

• Scented items

  Many people use scented candles or air fresheners in their homes and cars. Both, if not made from all-natural materials, may contain endocrine disruptors.

• The Land

  The Land is a term for all of our natural ecosystems: waterways, soil, air, oceans, etc. They are all contaminated by industrial activity, which also affects non-human beings. The contamination directly causes the death of vegetation and biodiversity. It also makes habitats, such as rivers, uninhabitable. There is also the endocrine disruptor factor, which is ingested by non-human animals and insects that also dysregulated their physiological functions.

• Transport

  All transport from trains to planes emit air pollutants which are both an environmental stressor and an endocrine disruptor.

• Water

  Drinking bottled water that has been in the sun can contain endocrine disruptors due to the chemical exchange between plastic and heat. Sadly our water quality is going down and many sources contain synthetic chemicals that are classified as endocrine disruptors.

KEY STATS & FACTS

• In the past, DES, an endocrine disruptor which mimics the function of oestrogen in the body, was prescribed to women from the 1940s to the 1970s.

• Since 1952, more than 140000 synthetic chemical compounds have been made, while each year over 70 000 different industrial chemicals are synthesised and sold. Endocrine disruptor are a huge business and they generate a lot of profit, which affects the motivation for banning them all together. We only need them because of capitalism and industrial growth.

• Billions of pounds of chemicals make their way annually into our bodies and ecosystems.

• “More than 358 industrial chemicals and pesticides have been detected in the cord blood of minority American infants.”

• We are all exposed to EDs, as capitalism has made it ubiquitous. However, depending on your lived experience, which is in part regulated by race, class, and gender, exposure is varied. The multi-ethnic working class, who are living in poverty, are exposed through the food they eat, as cheaper mass-produced and/or processed foods contain EDs, and through cheap housing, which often means the use of cheap materials which cost little to produce, leaving homes filled with EDs - from carpets to furniture. Finally, this demographic will have gendered work roles, such as housekeeping or long-haul driving, which exposes people to EDs. This means their exposure is for longer and sustained, leaving plenty of time for dysregulation to occur.

• EDs are in our Land, and they are in our bodies, as there is no separation. Therefore, when we fight for our own health justice we are fighting for the health of all of our Kin.