Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment Archives

March 6, 2024

“Explosive growth’ in petrochemical production linked to increases in cancers and other diseases in new report

By Carey Gillam

Chemical pollution tied to fossil fuel operations is not only driving harmful climate change but is also posing dire risks to human health at levels that require aggressive private and public efforts to limit exposures, warns a new analysis published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday.

The article authored by Tracey Woodruff, a professor at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), cites data from dozens of research studies highlighting what Woodruff calls a nexus between “explosive growth” in the petrochemical industry that includes forecasts for plastic production to grow almost three-fold by 2050, and data showing increases in cancers and other diseases in young people, particularly reproductive cancers in women.

Between 1990 and 2019, rates of neurodevelopmental disorders, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and certain cancers are among the non-communicable diseases that have increased, with petrochemicals used in producing plastics and other products among drivers of the growth, according to the paper.

“Numerous medical societies, government agencies, and systematic reviews have concluded that exposure to chemicals and pollution… is an important risk factor for multiple diseases and health inequities and probably contributes to these increases,” the report notes, adding that increases in disease and petrochemical production at the same time “alone cannot be interpreted as causal.”

Doctors and patients need to acknowledge and address the risks, and work to reduce exposures, while regulators need to strengthen chemical evaluations and oversight, said Woodruff, who directs the UCSF Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment and the Environmental Research and Translation for Health (EaRTH) Center.

“This is really important… one of the major factors driving climate change is also increasing our exposures to chemicals that are adversely impacting health,” she said. “Typically people say cancer is a disease of the aging, but now we’re seeing it increasing in people under 50.”

July 19, 2023

New worries about risks PFAS and other chemicals pose for pregnancies

By Carey Gillam
California researchers have found new evidence that several chemicals used in plastic production and a wide array of other industrial applications are commonly present in the blood of pregnant women, creating increased health risks for mothers and their babies.

The researchers said their findings add to a growing body of evidence showing that many chemicals people are routinely exposed to are leading to subtle but harmful changes in health.

“This is such an important issue,” said Tracey Woodruff, professor and director of the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment. “It’s urgent we do more to understand the role that chemicals have in maternal conditions and health inequities. We are being exposed to hundreds of chemicals and this research contributes to better understanding the impact they are having on our health.”

Maternal death rates in the US doubled between 1999 and 2019, with mortality highest for African-American mothers.

In the government-funded study, which was published Wednesday in the Environmental Health Perspectives journal, a team led by Woodruff and other UCSF researchers said they found multiple harmful chemicals, including types of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), in the blood of 302 pregnant study participants as well as in the umbilical cord blood of their babies.

At least 97% of the blood samples contained a type of PFAS known as PFOS, which has long been associated with multiple serious health problems, including birth defects.