Urinary levels of eight phthalate metabolites and bisphenol A in mother-child pairs from two Spanish locations.

Exposure to some phthalate diesters and bisphenol A in the general population is a cause of increasing concern because of their potential adverse effects on the reproductive and endocrine systems and their broad presence in foodstuff and consumer products. The aims of this work are to assess patterns of exposure to phthalates and bisphenol A in a pilot sample of Spanish mothers and their children, and to provide basic information to address priorities in future Spanish surveys/research. Urinary levels of eight phthalate metabolites and bisphenol A have been measured in samples from 120 mother-child pairs in one rural and one urban location in central Spain, recruited as part of the European project DEMOCOPHES. More than 96% of the participants were exposed to all the compounds studied here with generally higher levels in children than their mothers. The sum of secondary DEHP metabolites gave a GM of 33.3µg/g creatinine (95% CI 30.2-36.6) for mothers and 63.0µg/g creatinine (95% CI 56.8-69.8) for children. Mono-ethyl phthalate (MEP) was the metabolite with the highest levels, with geometric means (GM) of 150.8µg/g creatinine (95% CI 124.0-183.5) for mothers and 198.9µg/g creatinine (95% CI 165.2-239.6) for children. Bisphenol A urinary levels were relatively low with geometric means of 2.0µg/g (95% CI 1.6-2.4) for mothers and 2.01µg/g (95% CI 1.7-2.4) for children. Personal care products like body lotions and fragrances showed associations with MEHP, MEP, MnBP and cx-MiNP and canteen food with MBzP and bisphenol A. Exposure of mothers and their children are correlated, except for MEP. As phthalates and bisphenol A are non-persistent chemicals, a daily, intermittent exposure of the population is taking place.

Policy recommendations and cost implications for a more sustainable framework for European human biomonitoring surveys.

The potential of Human Biomonitoring (HBM) in exposure characterisation and risk assessment is well established in the scientific HBM community and regulatory arena by many publications. The European Environment and Health Strategy as well as the Environment and Health Action Plan 2004-2010 of the European Commission recognised the value of HBM and the relevance and importance of coordination of HBM programmes in Europe. Based on existing and planned HBM projects and programmes of work and capabilities in Europe the Seventh Framework Programme (FP 7) funded COPHES (COnsortium to Perform Human Biomonitoring on a European Scale) to advance and improve comparability of HBM data across Europe. The pilot study protocol was tested in 17 European countries in the DEMOCOPHES feasibility study (DEMOnstration of a study to COordinate and Perform Human biomonitoring on a European Scale) cofunded (50%) under the LIFE+ programme of the European Commission. The potential of HBM in supporting and evaluating policy making (including e.g. REACH) and in awareness raising on environmental health, should significantly advance the process towards a fully operational, continuous, sustainable and scientifically based EU HBM programme. From a number of stakeholder activities during the past 10 years and the national engagement, a framework for sustainable HBM structure in Europe is recommended involving national institutions within environment, health and food as well as European institutions such as ECHA, EEA, and EFSA. An economic frame with shared cost implications for national and European institutions is suggested benefitting from the capacity building set up by COPHES/DEMOCOPHES.

Cáncer de endometrío / Endometrium cancer

Se evaluaron 173 pacientes con cáncer de endometrio (CaE), que entre los años 1975-1991 asistieron al Instituto Oncológico "Luis Razetti" (I. O. L. R.). Al realizar protocolo quirúrgico a 56 de estas pacientes, hubo variación del diagnóstico con respecto al estadio clínico en el 44,6 por ciento de los casos, según el estadio (FIGO, 1988) a:58 por ciento I, 22 por ciento II, 11 por ciento III y 9 por ciento IV; y de acuerdo al tipo hidtológico: 54 por ciento Adenocarcinoma (ADC)-G1, 13 por ciento ADC-G", 8 por ciento ADC-G, 9 por ciento Adenoacantoma, 8 por ciento Papilar, 6 por ciento Células Claras, 1 por ciento Sarcoma y 1 por ciento Adenoescamoso. El promedio de edad fue de 58 años, independientemente del estadio y tipo histológico del CaE. Se obtuvo como factor pronóstico más importante el estadio (FIGO, 1988), seguido del tipo histológico. La sobrevida libre de enfermedad (SLE) a los 5 años fue de 76,3 por ciento; correspondiendo a cada estadio: 91,7 por ciento I, 85,2 por ciento II, 33,3 por ciento III y 0 por ciento IV. Para el adenoacantoma y el ADC G1 y G2 la SLE a los 5 años fue superior al 80 por ciento. Tanto la edad como la invasión miometrial no tuvieron influencia en la sobrevida. La mayor frecuencia de complicaciones la presentaron las pacientes sometidas a radioterapia (RT) externa e interna (34,3 por ciento), con respecto a aquellas recibieron solo RT externa (11,5 por ciento) o tratamiento quirúrgico (5,8 por ciento).