Pregnant women regularly exposed to a range of detergents, solvents and pesticides have a substantially greater risk of giving birth to boys with genital deformities, according to a new French study.
The research, led by two professors at the Regional University Hospital Centre in the French city of Montpellier, found that women who regularly work with such chemicals, including cleaners and hairdressers, were at greatest risk of having sons born with hypospadias.
The birth defect, which affects about three in 1,000 newborn boys, is a condition where the urinary opening is abnormally positioned on the penis.
Hypospadias can be treated with surgery but it can affect the boy’s fertility once he reaches adulthood.
The study, led by pediatric surgeon Nicolas Kalfa and pediatric endocrinologist Charles Sultan, was carried out over five years and examined 600 children at hospitals in four French cities, 300 of whom were boys born with hypospadias.
“The study shows for the first time that regular professional or domestic exposure (to these chemicals), and more generally being in contact with them, seriously raises the risk of genital deformity,” Sultan told AFP.
A summary of the research said boys were three times more likely to be born with hypospadias if they had been exposed to chemicals that interfered with their endocrine systems in the womb at the moment when the sex of the foetus is determined.
Both parents’ professions and where they live can play a role, the study added.
The study identifies mothers working as cleaners or housekeepers, hairdressers, beauticians and laboratory workers as being particularly at risk.
For the father, being a farmer, lab worker, cleaner, mechanic or painter was found to bring a greater chance of the son having the defect.
Living within three kilometres (1.8 miles) of an incinerator, landfill site or a chemical factory brings a greater risk of having a son with hypospadias, Sultan said.
“For a long time there has been contradictory data over the genetic and environmental causes,” Sultan added. –Agence France-Presse
July 2025
Nutrition Month
“Give us much more than P50 increase
for proper nutrition!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO Constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar
to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations
against serious violations of
Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.
Accept National Unity Government (NUG)
of Myanmar. Reject Military!
#WearMask #WashHands #Distancing #TakePicturesVideosturesVideos
July
3 July – International Day of Cooperatives
3 July – International Plastic Bag Free Day
5 July – World Youth Skills Day
7 July – Global Forgiveness Day
11 July – World Population Day
17 July – World Day for International Justice
28 July – World Nature Conservation Day
30 July – World Day against Trafficking in Persons
Monthly Observances:
Schools Safety Month
Nutrition Month
National Disaster Consciousness Month
Weekly Observances:
Week 2: Cultural Communities Week
Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise
Development Week
Week 3: National Science and
Technology Week
National Disability Prevention and
Rehabilitation Week
July 1-7:
National Culture Consciousness Week
July 13-19:
Philippines Business Week
Week ending last Saturday of July:
Arbor Week
Daily Observances:
First Saturday of July:
International Cooperative Day
in the Philippines
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