966046 Last update: 2023-08-11
Pollution Engendering Hypothyroidism (2 of 2)

The incredible adventure of the tadpoles as indicators of chemical pollution is told in the article of the month for February 2013 on the website www.gmouton.com; click on “Articles” then “10 – Article of the Month”. You will discover the best way to locate infinitesimal quantities of xenobiotics in water. Because they block the receptors for the active T3 thyroid hormones this is a more sensitive, more reliable, less expensive means to identify them.

The aim here is not to find an ingenious way to evaluate the cleanliness of the water but to demonstrate the disastrous role played by this long list of pollutants to our thyroid function.

Three substances remain to be talked about: PFOA, PFOS and phthalates.

Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) has been synthesized by industry since the 1940’s as a surfactant to stabilize emulsions.  PFOA is extremely stable and persists indefinitely in the environment by insidiously polluting water and food. You can review thyroid dysfunctions linked to PFOA by checking the conference "Thyroid & Xenobiotics” on my website site (see the “Conferences/Functional Hormonology section). Furthermore, this xenobiotic reduces fertility and causes birth defects, promotes some cancers and can even contribute to the development of cardiovascular disease.

Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) belongs to the family of perfluorinated compounds. It is a man-made chemical of global concern and is now found in the environment as well as in living organisms. The voluntary cessation of its production in 2002, for reasons of serious toxicity (including thyroid), has not prevented its detection over the surface of the globe, even in Canada, a country that has never produced any and even in the supposedly virgin land of the Canadian Arctic.

Phthalates have been manufactured industrially as plasticizers since the 1950’s. They are widely used to make plastics more flexible. Transparent, with practically no colour or odour, they have been used extensively in cosmetics to improve skin penetration of active ingredients. Nearly all products made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) contain some phthalates, which means all food packaging and toys. Phthalates migrate very easily from plastic wrappers that cover fatty food like meat or cheese. Their danger and toxicity been increasingly recognized, their ban is spreading in Europe but unfortunately not yet in Asia. They exert anti-thyroid actions in pregnant women, as well as in men, according to American studies: see the corresponding slides. These endocrine disruptors also affect all aspects of human reproduction: reduced fertility, foetal mortality, foetal malformations, reduced foetal body weight….

Therefore it is not surprising to encounter more and more cases of thyroid insufficiency today’s! Chemical aggressors are plentiful, mainly because many current chemical compounds have two cycles of 6 carbon atoms typical of our thyroid hormones. This results in complex interference with the production of thyroid hormones and their attachment to the corresponding receptors. Since the widespread use of pesticides and herbicides, we face a real chemical warfare against thyroid function in humans and animals.

This situation keeps has only worsened since the development of the plastics industry and we can certainly say that the surge of brominated flame-retardants will potentially constitute the final blow to our desperate thyroid glands. To resist this chemical assault you must have a grade A thyroid function! In addition, we must underline the extent of which these endocrine disruptors mess up human health:  let’s cite also bisphenol A which has a multitude of toxic effects and whose omnipresence in plastics (released by heating) contributes to the global obesity epidemic.

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By changing nothing, we hang to what we understand, even if it is the bars of our own jail.
- John le Carré, The Russia House 1989

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