Reproductive Outcomes in Families of DBCP-Exposed Men

Abstract

The families of 30 workers employed in a plant which, until 1977, had produced 1,2-dibromo-3-chloropropane (DBCP), have been monitored for 5 yr. Thirteen men who were azoospermic in 1977 had more than 100 hr of estimated exposure in production; of these, 4 have recovered spermatogenesis and 2 have fathered 4 female children. Eight men who were oligospermic in 1977 had been exposed for 34-95 hr; of 8 children subsequently born to their wives, 6 were female. Five men with exposure times estimated to be between 10 and 60 hr were normospermic in 1977, and of 5 children subsequently born to them, 4 were male and 1 was female. The outcome of the pregnancies among families of 4 non-exposed men and of exposed men prior to exposure resulted in 27 male and 24 female children. No increase in spontaneous abortion occurred in pregnancies fathered by exposed men. Four infant deaths and 5 congenital anomalies occurred among the babies born of unexposed pregnancies. No infant or fetal deaths and no congenital abnormalities occurred among children born to wives of men after the men were exposed. The birth of at least 10 females of 12 babies born to wives of exposed men with evidence of testicular toxicity would be expected according to binomial probabilities with a P = .015. The children born to families of exposed workers are in good health. A possible explanation for the observed female sex predominance might be Y chromosome non-disjunction, which was reported to be more frequent in sperm of DBCP workers by Kapp et al.

Prevalence of adverse reproductive outcomes in a population occupationally exposed to pesticides in Colombia.

“…The overall results of no association or a moderate increase in risk for some adverse pregnancy outcomes which might be due to recall bias and/or to misclassification of exposure are in agreement with the results reported previously for other populations (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(11)(12)(13). Although some ecological studies in Seveso, Italy, and in Vietnam suggested an increase in spontaneous abortions after possible maternal exposure to phenoxy herbicides and dioxins, the various methodological problems related to the difficulties in assessing exposure and in eliminating possible confounding and bias prevent definitive conclusions from being drawn from these studies.…”

Delayed Health Hazards of Pesticide Exposure

“…One year after exposure ended, six of nine oligospermic men became normospermic, two of nine showed improvement but remained oligospermic, and none of the 12 azoospermic men showed any improvement (106). In other studies approx imately a third of azoospermic men improved after four years without exposure (56,130).…”

Monitoring for Congenital Malformations

“…A number of studies have shown correlations between one or more of these factors and CMs (90, 128, 131, 133, 135b, 152). A chromosome abnormality in the sperm of men exposed to 1,2-dibromo-3-chloropropane (DBCP), which might result in cer tain CMs in surviving fetuses, was postulated to selectively cause fetal death of male offspring (39). In addition to impairing male fertility, DBCP has been associated with a significant excess of female livebirths among the offspring of exposed males; spontaneous abortions may also be elevated (39).…”