Scientists link sterility with high dioxin levels

[John Visher <visherjc@crisscross.com>]

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/index-e.htm

November 12, 1999
                Scientists link sterility with high dioxin levels

                Yomiuri Shimbun

                Women suffering from severe endometriosis and men aged
under 35 with
                low sperm counts usually have high levels of dioxin in
their body, researchers
                have discovered.

                The results released by Osamu Tsutsumi, a professor of
gynecology at
                Tokyo University Hospital, and the National Institute
for Environmental
                Studies, are largely based on data illustrating the
effects dioxins have on
                human reproductive functions.

                The findings will be presented at a conference of the
Japanese Society of
                Fertility and Sterility in Tokyo on Friday.

                Tsutsumi and his medical team took one-gram samples of
subcutaneous fat
                from 12 endometriosis sufferers aged from 25 to 45
during operations at
                Tokyo University Hospital.

                Of them, three patients with mild symptoms were found to
have an average
                11.2 picograms of dioxin per gram of fat, while nine
others with more severe
                symptoms averaged 19.88 picograms--78 percent higher.

                One picogram is equivalent to one-trillionth of a gram.

                They also measured dioxin levels in 38 men treated for
infertility at Tokyo
                University Hospital, by sampling one gram of fat taken
from their serum.

                Comparing the dioxin levels of 18 men who produced less
than 40 million
                sperm per cubic centimeter of semen, and 20 others with
normal sperm
                counts, the researchers found an average of 11.86
picograms of dioxins per
                gram of fat in the second group and 14.62 picograms in
the first group--an
                insignificant difference.

                But they then discovered that, among men aged up to 35
in the two groups,
                those with normal sperm counts had dioxin levels
averaging 8.89 picograms
                per gram of fat, while those with lower sperm counts
were found to have as
                much as 15.79 picograms per gram of fat.

                Tsutsumi said it was still unknown whether the high
dioxin levels were the
                cause of endometriosis in women and of a reduction in
male sperm
                production, but he said, "It has been reported that high
dioxin levels have
                significant effects on reproductive functions in animal
experiments."

                Endometriosis is a disease in which tissue that normally
remains inside the
                uterus proliferates in other areas such as the ovaries
or the intestines, and
                can cause heavy menstrual cramps and sterility.




             Copyright 1999 The Yomiuri Shimbun