Environmental Pollutants and Diseases of Sexual Development in Humans and Wildlife in South Africa: Harbingers of Impact on Overall Health?

Abstract

ContentsThis study deals with disorders of sexual development in humans, wildlife and animals in an urban nature reserve (RNR) and a currently DDT-sprayed malarial area. High levels of oestrogenic chemical residues in water, sediment and tissue; skewed sex ratios; reduced biodiversity; gonadal malformations in sharptooth catfish and freshwater snails; intersex in catfish; and impaired spermatogenesis in catfish and striped mouse are of serious concern in the RNR. Persistent eggshell thinning in African darter eggs, intersex in male Mozambican tilapia, follicular atresia in females and impaired spermatogenesis in males following laboratory exposure of parent fish to environmentally relevant DDT and DDE concentrations, and abnormalities in freshwater snails were found in the DDT-sprayed area. Human studies related to DDT exposure indicated impaired semen quality, a weak association with sperm chromatin defects and higher risks for external urogenital birth defects in those who were born to mothers whose houses were sprayed and those who were homemakers (stay at home mother) instead of being employed. These findings indicate that diseases of sexual development occurred in both human and wildlife populations exposed to environmental endocrine disruptor chemicals in South Africa. The chemical mixtures, possibly related to disorders of sexual differentiation (DSD), were very different between the two. However, DSD occurred concurrently in the malarial area, possibly indicating that humans and wildlife shared exposures. Moreover, it emphasizes the importance of suspecting disease in the other when disease is found in either human or wildlife populations.

Review: <i>Pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) as endocrine disrupting contaminants (EDCs) in South African surface waters</i>

“…Environmental contaminants causing disruption of the reproductive endocrine system have been the focus of many EDC studies around the world, including South Africa, where varying concentrations of contaminants having known oestrogenic endocrine-disrupting effects have been found in surface waters (Aneck-Hahn et al, 2009;Bornman et al, 2007;Slabbert et al, 2007;Genthe et al, 2013). Such studies may be only the tip of the iceberg, as increasing number of ECs are shown to have endocrine-disrupting activities.…”

Impacts of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals on Reproduction in Wildlife

“…This step, which involves enforced spraying within the houses of the local human populations had had devastating reproductive effects on the humans themselves, i.e. reduced sperm quality and external urogenital birth defects, and the local wildlife (Bornman and Bouwman 2012 ;de Jager et al 2002 ), with the reappearance of disorders related to abnormal sexual differentiation.…”

Biological Invasions as a Component of South Africa’s Global Change Research Effort

“…These chemicals can precipitate impacts beyond the target organisms (arrow BE in Fig. 29.1), including people (Bornman and Bouwman 2012), particularly when they are not applied correctly (Adams et al 2016;Dube et al 2009). The magnitude of this problem cannot be accurately quantified in South Africa, both due to limited studies and also widespread use of herbicides and pesticides in agriculture.…”