Elsevier

Marine Environmental Research

Volume 83, February 2013, Pages 93-95
Marine Environmental Research

Short communication
Are marine environmental pollutants influencing global patterns of human disease?

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marenvres.2012.10.003Get rights and content

Abstract

Thousands of toxic chemicals, many of which pollute marine ecosystems, potentially cause diseases, but building a consensus view of the significance of human body burdens of environmental chemicals is proving difficult. Causative mechanisms are often lacking. Older members of the population, of which there are increasing numbers worldwide, accumulate higher body burdens than the young, and may be especially at risk. It also remains unclear when crucially sensitive periods for chemical exposures occur across the life course. Very early exposures may lead to diseases much later on. The current lack of robust science upon which to base high quality expert advice is hampering effective policymaking that leads to further reductions in marine pollution, greater protection of marine life and lowering of risks to human health.

Highlights

► Current and emerging environmental chemicals are continuing to contaminate marine products that are consumed by humans. ► Human body burdens of environmental chemicals are being increasingly associated with the development of many diseases. ► The ageing demographic will result in more people accumulating potentially toxic pollutants from their surroundings. ► New policies and management measures are required to reduce the threat to human health from chemical contaminants.

Introduction

Thousands of toxic chemicals, many of which pollute ocean ecosystems and contaminate marine products, potentially cause human diseases (www.atsdr.cdc.gov). Among these, industrial chemicals such as bisphenol A, triclosan, perfluorochemicals, phthalates, pharmaceutical residues, hydrocarbons and metals (e.g. mercury and arsenic), and pesticides in terrestrial runoff, are of particular concern (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 2012; Crinnion, 2010). These chemicals enter marine ecosystems via different routes and can be deliberately introduced into estuaries, coastal and open seas as complex effluents, or enter via atmospheric deposition or as a result of agricultural practices or inadvertently contaminate marine ecosystems through product use or discard. Human exposures to environmental chemicals, old and new, continue unabated, most recently with the introduction of engineered nanomaterials. But what are the implications for human health?

Section snippets

Acute versus chronic exposures

Notorious incidents such as mercury poisoning at Minamata, Japan, and the Deep Water Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, increase awareness of acute and chronic health problems caused by chemical pollutants. However, the slow accumulation of low concentrations of a wide range compounds in the human population attracts much less attention. Indeed, building a consensus view of the significance of body burdens of environmental chemicals is proving difficult. The plasticiser bisphenol A (BPA)

Demographic change and contaminant body burdens

Fig. 1 illustrates how contaminants accumulate throughout life. Overall, older members of the population, of which there are increasing numbers worldwide, seem to be especially at risk from chemically-induced diseases. For example, over 100 industrial chemicals have been linked to adverse effects on the brain and nervous system, causing memory, cognitive, and functional symptoms (Grandjean and Landrigan, 2006), conditions already found more commonly in the elderly. It remains unclear when

Continuing threats and new opportunities

Despite regulatory agencies' efforts to minimise threats from dangerous substances we still receive a lifetime's exposure to complex chemical mixtures for which toxicity data, monitoring programmes, and management strategies are inadequate. The lack of robust science upon which to base high quality expert advice is hampering effective policymaking. Currently, emphasis is placed on identifying chemical hazards, but exposure risk assessment is vital if we are to avoid invoking the “Precautionary

Acknowledgements

Researchers from the European Centre for Environment and Human Health (University of Exeter Medical School) are supported by investment from the European Regional Development Fund and the European Social Fund Convergence Programme for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

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