ENDOCRINE DISRUPTORS
Impacts for Indigenous Culture
Chemistry of Processes
Attempts at Restoration and Reconciliation (Superfund Site/Federal Contaminated Sites Inventory)
Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are compounds that interfere with the synthesis, transport, binding, or eliminations of natural hormones in the body (endocrine system)
Endocrine system is responsible for homeostasis, reproduction, development and/or behaviour
Classifications
By Exposure
Hormones act in extremely small amounts, therefore minor disruptions can cause significant developmental and biological effects
Produces hormones that act as signaling molecules
Made up of endocrine glands throughout the body
It is not possible to determine an EDC from structure itself, but there are some structural clues
By Origin
By Production
Synthetic
Natural
Found in human and animal food
Plasticizers
Pesticides
Plastics
Fungicide
Industrial solvents/lubricants and their byproducts
Some pharmaceutical agents
Drugs with hormonal side effects
Industrial and household chemicals
Natural and artificial hormones
Side products of industrial and household processes
Chemicals in products
Food contact materials
Pesticides
Phenolic ring with no halogens, sulphone functional groups, chlorine and bromine substitution next to OH group in phenolic ring is required for EDC activity
References
The Shoalwater Tribe (US)
The Cree (Canada)
The Great Lakes Ojibwe: Aamjiwnaag Reverse (Canada)
The Great Lakes Ojibwe: Toxaphene Exposure
During the 1990s, pregnant women on the Shoalwater Bay Reservation in Washington State were experiencing constant miscarriages
Farmers spray pesticides on cranberry bogs north of reservation
Foresteres spray herbicides on surrounding forest
High levels of pesticides in drainage areas
High rates of premature births linked to high rates of gestational diabetes among pregnant mothers
DDT spraying in boreal forests to remove budworm infestations around 1940s
2-2.5 times the national average of premature prenatal, stillbirth, and newborn deaths
Can alter sexual development and reproduction
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Correlation between pregnancy child deaths and areas with high levels of pesticides including DDt
40% of Canada's petrochemical industry is in Sarnia and 42 chemical companies are within 10 km of Aamjiwnaang First Nation
Beginning in 1993-94, girl babies started to outnumber boys in a 2:1 ratio and 39% of adult women had at least one miscarriage or stillbirth
A resident had the highest toxic body burden in Canada with 30 carcinogens and 31 reproductive/developmental toxins
Another 14 year old female had 12 hormone disruptors and 17 reproductive/developmental toxins
During the 1990s, toxaphene, a mutagenic, teratogenic and carcinogenic persistant organic pollutant (POPS) was found rising in fish in Lake Superior
Fish is important for health of fetuses and young children, and carries cultural significance
Tribal health departments urged members to eat more traditional/country food to reduce risk of diabetes, heart disease, and obesity from average American diet
Canadian government advised citiznes to eat most Lake Superior trout
Trade-off between beliefs and possible health harms
First Nations Environmental Contaiminants Program
Funding provided by Indigenous Services Canada to help First Nations communities to improve their health
Supports in identifying, investigrating, and characterizing the impoact of exposure to environmental hazards
Through research, monitoring, risk assessment, risk communication, and knowledge integration
Projects
Mohawk Council of Kanesatake’s Environmental Contaminants Health and Impact Project
Dietary exposure of Maliseet First Nations in New Brunswick to chemical contaminants due to consumption of traditional food
Assessment of beaver tissue quality in the traditional territory of the Chipewyan Prairie Déné First Nation
Investigation of Radon Concentrations in Homes in Neqotkuk (Tobique First Nation) in New Brunswick
Community-based monitoring study establishing baseline fish mercury and heavy metal concentration in the traditional territory of Naskapi Nation of Kawawachikamach
Assessing Indoor Exposure to Radon Gas and related Health Impacts at Red Earth Cree Nation