Women have a particular stake in environmental health research. Not only do they share many of the same diseases as men and children - in which the environment, along with genetic susceptibility, has an important role - but women also have particular environmental diseases related to their gender. Some, such as osteoporosis, involve aging as well - and women on average live longer than men.
Other diseases involve women's role in reproduction and in the bearing and nursing of children. Women tend to carry more fat, in which substances introduced lower in the food chain may accumulate.
Women also greatly influence the health of their children. Studies indicate they can pass along substances - lead stored in their bone, for example - to their fetuses. Taking drugs, including prescription drugs and nonprescription drugs as common as aspirin, may affect a pregnancy. Smoking is linked to lower birth weight, douching to reduced fertility.
Here are some additional conditions in which an environmental factor is being studied as a possible cause, trigger or influence:
The body produces antibodies that fight foreign proteins known as antigens. In lupus, the antibodies mistake the body's own cells as foreign and attack them. The disease may range from mild to severe and is characterized by periods of flareups and remissions. Lupus may cause weight loss, fever, fatigue, aching, and weakness and may involve different organ systems such as the central nervous system, the heart, lungs, kidneys, muscles, and joints. A gene on chromosome 1 has been linked with susceptibility to lupus in Caucasians, Asians, and African Americans.
Exposures to various chemicals such as pharmaceuticals and solvents have been linked to autoimmune diseases. For example, exposure to hydrazine, an industrial chemical, or tartrazine, a food additive, is associated with lupus. And scleroderma has been associated with workplace exposure to vinyl chloride and silica dust.
Women have particular environmental diseases related to their gender, as well as sharing other environment-related diseases with men and children.
While some environmental estrogens may cause harm, there is a possibility some may reduce risks . . .
Fibroids, the leading reason for hysterectomies, are being studied in black and white women in a Washington health plan . . .