A scattering of studies, including Guillette's, have shown clear evidence of neurological problems in children whose pregnant mothers were exposed to EDs. Recent experiments with mice indicate that, with some compounds, damage to gonads and abnormal behavior among a mother's offspring can occur even if she is exposed to amounts so tiny that she shows no effects whatever. Other recent animal studies have supported the hypothesized link between neurological problems and contaminants that disrupt the activity of the thyroid gland, which plays a role in normal brain function. She has been influential in promoting her view that those most at risk from EDs are not adults, nor their young offspring, but developing embryos and fetuses. Starting shortly after a sperm cell enters an egg cell, hormones, first from the mother, and later from glands of the developing fetus, are critical to development of the reproductive system, brain, skeletal system, and other organs and body parts.
Hormones function as biochemical messengers.
There, like tiny keys fitting into tiny locks, hormone molecules will trigger powerful bodily changes. The work of hormones in a developing organism is an exquisitely calibrated biological dance. Deformed gonads or even partial female gonads may be the result. Studies with mice have shown that doses of various estrogen-mimicking contaminants given to a pregnant female can cause her male offspring to be born with an enlarged prostate gland. Laboratory and field studies are also demonstrating linksbetween endocrine disruptors and a variety of other developmental problems in people.