Scientific studies make the link between pollution and endometriosis, a mysterious and long taboo disease. The research is progressing slowly; the results are not yet clear.
Endometriosis, what is aquo?
Endometriosis is increasingly publicized, but many people are still unaware of the existence of this disease. Blame it on the taboo that still reigns around female menstruation and the pain it accompanies. Sometimes unbearable, these are sometimes due to endometriosis, which can also cause infertility problems.
Concretely, the disease causes the fragmentation of a tissue similar to the endometrium (mucosa lining the inside of the uterus) in different organs external to the uterus (ovaries, rectum, bladder, intestines, lungs, etc.) In menstruation, hormones cause inflammation of these fragments, which cause severe pain and have consequences such as digestive disorders, urinary problems, etc.
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In France, endometriosis affects nearly 10% of women of childbearing age, but the diagnosis is often too late, however, due to a lack of awareness. However, since the 1990s, pesticide pollution (PCBs and dioxins) has increased and worsened this chronic gynecological disease, the leading cause of infertility in France. The Ministry of Health has launched a national endometriosis strategy (the second largest in the world after Australia). According to the government, the causes of this disease are “poorly known”, and several factors are mentioned: menstruation, genetic hormonal factors, but also environmental.
Pesticides, again and again?
A scientific publication dating from July 2021 reviews around fifty studies, and demonstrates that increasingly common exposure to chemicals would exponentially increase the risk of endometriosis. The Reporterre site has looked into the matter and denounces the fact that exposure to PCBs, dioxins, pesticides, and organochlorines, increases the risk of suffering from this increasingly common disease.
While most of these substances (pesticides and flame retardants) have already been banned in Europe for ten years, they are still found in the bodies, especially those of women suffering from endometriosis. Other endocrine disruptors are still used in packaging, utensils and cosmetics. They are also found in the waters of rivers, and by extension in the sea, lakes and the related food chain.
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However, studies do not confirm a direct causal link between consumption of polluted foods (or contact with pollutants) and endometriosis. They limit themselves to identifying a possible link between certain pollutants and the disease, without really explaining by which mechanisms they act on the disease. Pr Peter Von Theobald, gynecologist specializing in endometriosis at the University Hospital of Saint-Denis in Reunion, (one of the French regions most affected by endometriosis) presents a theory according to which in women particularly exposed to very widespread (this is the case in Reunion with exposure to chemical treatment against scabies and lice), the disruptors “mimic” the action of estrogen, causing the thickening of the endometrium, which would “flame ” or aggravate the disease.
Adapt urgently while waiting for solutions
To better understand how pollutants act in aggravating the disease, researcher Marina Kvaskoff launched the EndoxOmics-β project. After a first stage of study with a large panel of volunteers, she seeks to find preventive strategies, but also new non-invasive diagnostic tools. Promising, the first results will only be available within three years.
For now, the disease has no approved treatment. Taking hormones and surgical operations can in the best cases slow down its progression. Also, women who suffer from it seek to raise awareness among the general public on social networks, to make visible the dangers and the urgency of treatment. At the same time, they are looking for ways to fight the disease by adapting their diet and leading a life free of pollutants.