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7 October 2002
New Study Finds Exposure to PCBs, Dioxins before Birth Changes
Play Behaviors Years Later
Study Released Today
in Environmental Health Perspectives Finds Exposed Boys Engage in
Less Masculine Play; Girls More Masculine
[RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC] A new study published today in the
science journal Environmental Health Perspectives found that prenatal
exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dioxins can influence
play behaviors that reflect gender differences. The Dutch study
has been tracking various impacts of exposure to these toxicants
on a group of children since 1990.
In the latest leg of the study, 189 children with an average age
of 7.5 years were evaluated using the Pre-School Activities Inventory,
a questionnaire that asks parents 24 questions about how their children
prefer to play, including types of toys, activities, and interests.
Higher prenatal exposure to PCBs was associated with less
masculinized play behavior in boys and more masculinized play behavior
in girls. In boys as well as in girls, higher prenatal dioxin levels
were associated with more feminized play behavior, the studys
authors wrote. We therefore suggest that these results may
indicate behavioral effects of steroid hormone imbalances early
in development related to prenatal exposure to PCBs and dioxins,
their metabolites, and/or related compounds.
The children were evaluated based on their parents answers
to the questions on the inventory. Representative questions include
whether a child prefers playing with tools versus playing with dolls,
taking care of babies versus climbing, and avoiding dirt versus
taking risks. These data were then cross-referenced with data on
each childs exposure to 4 environmentally important PCBs and
17 dioxins in the umbilical cord blood and the mothers blood
and breast milk. The researchers also evaluated which children were
breastfed and which children were formula-fed.
Importantly, breastfeeding was not associated with behavioral changes,
suggesting that PCBs and dioxins probably disrupt hormones related
to childhood play behavior early in fetal development.
This is the first human behavioral study to show the effects of
PCB and dioxin exposure on behavior that reflects marked gender
differences, according to the authors. Gender-specific effects of
background prenatal studies have not previously been reported in
human PCB studies. The authors plan to continue to evaluate the
study participants to assess potential implications on later development.
The study team was headed by Hestien J. I. Vreugdenhil of Erasmus
University and Sophia Children's Hospital of Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
EHP is the journal of the National Institute of Environmental Health
Sciences, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
More information is available online at http://www.ehponline.org.
Editors note: A full copy of the report is available here
http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2002/110pA593-A598vreugdenhil/abstract.html
or by fax or e-mail (PDF format) to working media at no charge.
Contact using phone number listed or e-mail adams6@niehs.nih.gov.
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