Download Do we have evidence from the wild life

Gwynne Lyons
Toxics Science and Policy Advisor
WWF UK
Congenital Defects
The wildlife/human connection
AREHNA seminar - Kos, June 2005
Overview of Talk
• Two examples of wildlife warnings.
• Congenital defects in 4 classes of
vertebrate animals:
fish; amphibians; reptiles; mammals.
• Wildlife warnings for the future
Example 1
Abortion in Sea Lions
• 20 % Sea Lions had aborted pups
on an island off California
• DDE responsible for 15%? Of
premature baby deaths in USA
(Longnecker et al. 2001)
• Higher DDT in Chinese workers
who suffer abortion
(Korrick et al. 2001)
DDT in lab animals
• DDT has an anti-androgenic action in
rodents.
AGD > hypospadias > undescended testes
(Kelce et al. 1995; Earl Gray et al. 2001)
• Highlights fetal tissue concs of 10-20 ppm
DDE = similar to humans in late 1960s
• Shows DDT / DDE cause cryptorchidism
and CIS in rabbits
South Africa - babies
• DDT used in homes for
malarial control
• Prof Bornman et al
(unpublished –work in
progress)
• DDT linked to testicular
abnormalities in baby boys
Example 2
Thyroid effects in Great
Lakes wildlife
• In Great Lakes all adult male salmon
showed thyroid disruption. Enlarged
thyroids – goitre - some ruptured.
Effects on thyroid still evident
• 2001-2004 gulls still have goitre –
produce less thyroid hormones.
• Turtles in Great Lakes
reduced thyroid function.
Other species showing
altered thyroid function
• Babies in 1990 Dutch
cohort – thyroid
hormone levels
correlate with
pollutants
• The higher dioxin,
furan and PCB in milk,
the lower maternal
total T3 and T4 .
Infants have higher
plasma-levels of TSH
• Alligators in polluted
Florida lakes –
reduced thyroxine
levels.
• Florida panther
thyroid dysfunction
• Polar bears – thyroid
hormone levels
altered - PCBs
Thyroid effects in humans
• Goitre in Michigan residents
• PCBs - developmental neurotoxicity
= thyroid disruption?
• In Japan – tripling of the incidence
of cretinism 1981-9995
defective thyroid function in
foetal life
cause dioxin?
– other chemicals linked to ED of T
Congenital defects in
Vertebrate wildlife - fish
• Intersex fish – up to 100% of roach
in some UK freshwater rivers. VTG.
Now found elsewhere in EU.
• Intersex found in UK marine fish –
such as flounder – but less severe.
Now found in Seine, Baltic flounder,
and severe in swordfish from the
Mediterranean
• MIPs morphologically intermediate
papilla syndrome – Sand Gobies.
Congenital defects in
Vertebrates: Amphibians
• Gonadal dysgenesis and hermaphrodite
leopard frogs - atrazine sites USA
(Hayes et al. 2003)
• Intersex in cricket frogs – pop decline peaked in OC time? (Reeder 2005)
• Cane Toads – 30% hermaphrodite –
atrazine on sugar cane in Florida
(Gross)
• Limb deformities
Congenital defects in Reptiles
• Smaller phallus in alligators.
• Abnormalities of the testes in
alligators
• Smaller precloacal length
(= penis) in snapping turtles Detroit river
• Abnormal testes – ovo-testes
in red belly turtle in Florida
Congenital defects in
Mammals: Mustelids
• Impaired reproduction in otters in
EU, and in Great Lakes.
• Otters in Lower Columbia river had
shorter baculums and smaller testes.
• Eye defects linked with lower vit A
• Endangered European mink in decline
• Mink in British Columbia shorter
baculum correlating to PCBs
Congenital defects in Polar
Bears and Panthers
• Suspected higher
rates of female
hermaphroditism in
polluted Svalbaard.
• Many of remaining
small population of
Florida panthers have
undescended testes
Congenital defects in
Black and Brown Bears
• Retained testes in 11 of 71
black bears in Florida
(4 old enough to be
considered cryptorchid)
(Dunbar 1996)
• In Alberta Canada – 1988 –
reported cases of
masculinised females
Congenital defects in Mule Deer
and White Tailed Deer
• Abnormal testes and abnormal antlers in
27 of 116 adult male Mule deer around
site on Columbia river USA
(Tiller et al.1997)
• Of 254 white tailed deer from Montana –
67% showed genital developmental
abnormalities. (1996-2000)
Mis-positioned genitals, undersized
scrota, and un-descended testes
(Hoy et al. 2002)
Congenital defects in male Sitka
Black Tail Deer in Alaska
Aliluik peninsula on Kodiak Island
• 61 out of 94 were bilateral
cryptorchid
• 43 out of 94 had abnormal antlers
• At least 2 of the 10 scrotal testes
examined contained CIS cells
precursors of seminoma
(Veeramanchaneni et al. 2005)
Congenital defects in Eland
in South Africa
• Focal white gritty areas found in
testes of all 11 eland.
• Vacuolisation of sertoli cells
• Impaired spermatogenesis
• Testicular lesions associated with
high NP?
• First evidence of wildlife affected
by EDCs in South Africa
Warning for male
Homo Sapiens
• Testicular dysgenesis now seen in many
aquatic and terrestrial species.
• Additive effects known to occur in vivo
with anti-androgenic substances
(Foster et al. 2000)
(Gray et al. 2001)
(Silva et al. 2002)
• Swan 2005 – shows AGD and other effects
linked to phthalate metabolites in mothers.
• Baby boys – half the men their fathers are?
Warning: Immune suppression
in wildlife is widespread
• Birds in Gt Lakes - Herring Gulls,
Black-crowned Herons, Caspian Terns
in (2001) Great Lakes.
• Snapping Turtles in (2001) in Gt
Lakes
• Loggerhead Turtles (2000/01) from
North Carolina
• Seals (and controlled feeding of
seals with fish from polluted Waddon
sea depressed immune system
Warning: Immune suppression
in wildlife is widespread
..cont…
• High rates of cancer in St
Lawrence belugas.
• Mice fed with fat replaced with
beluga fat – show immune
suppression
• Immune suppression very evident
in Svalbaard polar bears
• Immune suppression found in
Florida panther
Implications for humans?
• Discuss – Rice oil - Inuit babies – Dutch
cohort. DES children. > old age – autoimmune
disease – arthritis.
• Need to identify chemicals with
immunotoxicant and/or ED action
• Need tighter controls on EDCs
• Need to bring EDCs under prior
authorisation under REACH. Help!