kat note: the underlining and bold is from me to help you see the part on pcos...VERY interesting!
FRIDAY 13/09/2002 16
57
WWF health warning
WWF Northern Ireland is calling for stricter controls on dangerous hormone-mimicking chemicals after a report for the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that damage to wildlife substantiates concerns for human health.
The WHO report highlighted the strong possibility that adverse trends in human health are linked to these chemicals.
Numerous effects in humans have been potentially linked to exposure to Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs).
These substances interfere with the body’s naturally occurring hormones, disrupting reproductive and early developmental processes – particularly in offspring exposed in the womb or in the egg.
Many common household products such as electrical goods, plastic bottles, food cans, disposable nappies and garden hoses contain EDCs.
Scientists are currently looking at how EDCs can cause birth defects, endometriosis, precocious puberty, altered brain development, breast cancer, polycystic ovary syndrome, testicular cancer, prostate cancer and altered immune function, as well as reproductive effects such as altered sex-ratios (fewer boys) and reduced sperm quality and reduced sperm counts.
Evidence directly linking the substances are still lacking but may take many years to unravel. The WHO report acknowledges that the changes in human health trends in some areas are sufficient to warrant concern and make this area a high research priority.
The report also details a variety of effects in wildlife which have been linked to exposure to chemicals with endocrine disrupting properties.
These include: imposex in mollusc species, (eg where female whelks grow penises), intersex in fish (where males produce eggs or ovarian tissue in the testis), reduced penis size in male alligators and effects on the immune system, and on reproduction in mammals.
WWF is urging governments to take a precautionary approach to EDCs as evidence of effects is often measurable long before the link is established.
For example, it was claimed that there was overwhelming evidence linking cigarette smoke to cancer decades before a formal connection was put forward.
Commenting on the report, Jim Kitchen of WWF Northern Ireland said: “We cannot wait decades for precise causal mechanisms to be established. We must act now if our children and wildlife are to be protected from exposure to man-made hormone disrupting chemicals.”
source:
http://u.tv/newsroom/indepth.asp?pt=n&id=23270 
Scientists are currently looking at how EDCs can cause...polycystic ovary syndrome 
