Gwynne LyonsToxics Science and Policy Advisor

WWF UK

Congenital DefectsThe wildlife/human connection

AREHNA seminar - Kos, June 2005

Overview of Talk

• Two examples of wildlife warnings.

• Congenital defects in 4 classes of vertebrate animals: fish; amphibians; reptiles; mammals.

• Wildlife warnings for the future

Example 1 Abortion in Sea Lions

• 20 % Sea Lions had aborted pups on an island off California

• DDE responsible for 15%? Of premature baby deaths in USA(Longnecker et al. 2001)

• Higher DDT in Chinese workers who suffer abortion(Korrick et al. 2001)

DDT in lab animals

• DDT has an anti-androgenic action in rodents. AGD > hypospadias > undescended testes(Kelce et al. 1995; Earl Gray et al. 2001)

• Highlights fetal tissue concs of 10-20 ppm DDE = similar to humans in late 1960s

• Shows DDT / DDE cause cryptorchidism and CIS in rabbits

South Africa - babies

• DDT used in homes for malarial control

• Prof Bornman et al(unpublished –work in progress)

• DDT linked to testicular abnormalities in baby boys

Example 2Thyroid effects in Great

Lakes wildlife • In Great Lakes all adult male salmon

showed thyroid disruption. Enlarged thyroids – goitre - some ruptured. Effects on thyroid still evident

• 2001-2004 gulls still have goitre – produce less thyroid hormones.

• Turtles in Great Lakes reduced thyroid function.

Other species showing altered thyroid

function• Babies in 1990 Dutch

cohort – thyroid hormone levels correlate with pollutants

• The higher dioxin, furan and PCB in milk, the lower maternal total T3 and T4 . Infants have higher plasma-levels of TSH

• Alligators in polluted Florida lakes – reduced thyroxine levels.

• Florida panther thyroid dysfunction

• Polar bears – thyroid hormone levels altered - PCBs

Thyroid effects in humans

• Goitre in Michigan residents

• PCBs - developmental neurotoxicity = thyroid disruption?

• In Japan – tripling of the incidence of cretinism 1981-9995 defective thyroid function in foetal life cause dioxin? – other chemicals linked to ED of T

Congenital defects in Vertebrate wildlife - fish

• Intersex fish – up to 100% of roach in some UK freshwater rivers. VTG.Now found elsewhere in EU.

• Intersex found in UK marine fish – such as flounder – but less severe.Now found in Seine, Baltic flounder, and severe in swordfish from the Mediterranean

• MIPs morphologically intermediate papilla syndrome – Sand Gobies.

Congenital defects in Vertebrates: Amphibians

• Gonadal dysgenesis and hermaphrodite leopard frogs - atrazine sites USA (Hayes et al. 2003)

• Intersex in cricket frogs – pop decline - peaked in OC time? (Reeder 2005)

• Cane Toads – 30% hermaphrodite – atrazine on sugar cane in Florida(Gross)

• Limb deformities

Congenital defects in Reptiles

• Smaller phallus in alligators.• Abnormalities of the testes

in alligators

• Smaller precloacal length (= penis) in snapping turtles - Detroit river

• Abnormal testes – ovo-testes in red belly turtle in Florida

Congenital defects in Mammals: Mustelids

• Impaired reproduction in otters in EU, and in Great Lakes.

• Otters in Lower Columbia river had shorter baculums and smaller testes.

• Eye defects linked with lower vit A• Endangered European mink in

decline• Mink in British Columbia shorter

baculum correlating to PCBs

Congenital defects in Polar Bears and Panthers

• Suspected higher rates of female hermaphroditism in polluted Svalbaard.

• Many of remaining small population of Florida panthers have undescended testes

Congenital defects in Black and Brown

Bears• Retained testes in 11 of

71 black bears in Florida(4 old enough to be considered cryptorchid)(Dunbar 1996)

• In Alberta Canada – 1988 – reported cases of masculinised females

Congenital defects in Mule Deer and White Tailed Deer

• Abnormal testes and abnormal antlers in 27 of 116 adult male Mule deer around site on Columbia river USA (Tiller et al.1997)

• Of 254 white tailed deer from Montana – 67% showed genital developmental abnormalities. (1996-2000) Mis-positioned genitals, undersized scrota, and un-descended testes(Hoy et al. 2002)

Congenital defects in male Sitka Black Tail Deer in Alaska

Aliluik peninsula on Kodiak Island

• 61 out of 94 were bilateral cryptorchid

• 43 out of 94 had abnormal antlers • At least 2 of the 10 scrotal testes

examined contained CIS cellsprecursors of seminoma

(Veeramanchaneni et al. 2005)

Congenital defects in Eland in South Africa

• Focal white gritty areas found in testes of all 11 eland.

• Vacuolisation of sertoli cells• Impaired spermatogenesis• Testicular lesions associated with

high NP?• First evidence of wildlife affected

by EDCs in South Africa

Warning for male Homo Sapiens

• Testicular dysgenesis now seen in many aquatic and terrestrial species.

• Additive effects known to occur in vivo with anti-androgenic substances(Foster et al. 2000)(Gray et al. 2001)(Silva et al. 2002)

• Swan 2005 – shows AGD and other effects linked to phthalate metabolites in mothers.

• Baby boys – half the men their fathers are?

Warning: Immune suppression in wildlife is

widespread• Birds in Gt Lakes - Herring Gulls,

Black-crowned Herons, Caspian Terns in (2001) Great Lakes.

• Snapping Turtles in (2001) in Gt Lakes

• Loggerhead Turtles (2000/01) from North Carolina

• Seals (and controlled feeding of seals with fish from polluted Waddon sea depressed immune system

Warning: Immune suppression in wildlife is

widespread ..cont…• High rates of cancer in St

Lawrence belugas.• Mice fed with fat replaced with

beluga fat – show immune suppression

• Immune suppression very evident in Svalbaard polar bears

• Immune suppression found in Florida panther

Implications for humans?

• Discuss – Rice oil - Inuit babies – Dutch cohort. DES children. > old age – autoimmune disease – arthritis.

• Need to identify chemicals with immunotoxicant and/or ED action

• Need tighter controls on EDCs

• Need to bring EDCs under prior authorisation under REACH. Help!