Exposure during pregnancy to a mix of environmental chemicals that interfere with the regulation of hormones (i.e. endocrine disruptors such as PFAS and phthalates) increases the risk of neurodevelopmental deficits and language delay in the unborn child: therefore, the evaluation policies of the unborn child should be revised. risk, hitherto based on the examination of individual chemicals and not their mixtures.
This is what emerges from the European study EDC-MixRisk, published in Science by an international team in which Italy plays a leading role with the University of Milan, the European Institute of Oncology (IEO) and the Human Technopole. .
The study was conducted in three phases.
In the first, about 2,000 women from the beginning of pregnancy to the school age of the children were followed, identifying a mix of chemicals in the blood and urine of pregnant women that is associated with a delay in language development in children at the age of 30 months.
The mix includes a number of phthalates, bisphenol A (BPA) and perfluorinated compounds (PFAS).
Subsequently, experimental studies on animal models and mini human brains reproduced in test tubes (organoids) made it possible to identify the molecular targets through which the mix of chemicals (even at low concentrations) alters the regulation of endocrine circuits and genes involved in autism and intellectual disability.
These results were then used to develop specific risk assessment methods for the substance mix.
Thanks to these new experimentally defined risk thresholds, it emerged that up to 54% of pregnant women had been exposed to an increased risk of language delay in their unborn babies.
"This study is a milestone for the protection of public health and makes it impossible to postpone a legislative adjustment that reflects the new risk framework of environmental toxic substances, highlighted for the first time in a systematic way by our data", comments Giuseppe Testa, scientific director of EDC-MixRisk, professor of molecular biology at the University of Milan, director of the Neurogenomics Center at Human Technopole and group leader at the European Institute of Oncology. The uniqueness of this scientific work "also lies in having demonstrated the feasibility and the effectiveness of the synergy between population and laboratory studies: a new method that can be applied to other public health issues ".
