This group met a second time in November 1995 in Erice, Italy and issued another statement that provides further evidence of the impact of hormone disruptors on neurological and behavioral development. The devastating effects of endocrine disruptors is also evident in people. Boys born to Taiwanese mothers accidentally contaminated by PCBs have developmental delays, symptoms suggesting attention deficit disorder and shortened penises at puberty. These effects were seen even though the mothers' exposure occurred at least 6 years prior to the pregnancies. As described earlier, daughters born to mothers who took DES during pregnancy have a greatly increased risk of developing a rare vaginal cancer, having miscarriages and developing endometriosis.
Sons are more likely to have undescended testes, hypospadia and lower sperm count.
Mothers who frequently ate Great lakes fish while growing up gave birth to children with reduced crania at birth and continuing developmental problems including motoneural deficits. Children born to mothers carrying background levels of contamination in the Netherlands show behavioral and learning impairment and have weakened immune systems. Children born to Inuit mothers from the Canadian Arctic have even greater immune system problems and suffer from increased frequency of inner ear infections. Exposure to endocrine disruptors is suspected. The health problems caused by exposure to hormone disrupting chemicals are clearly defined in Our Stolen Future.