Vinclozolin — toxicity, side effects, diseases and environmental impacts

Vinclozolin mainly serves as a fungicide that is formulated as a dry flowable that can be applied with aerial, chemigation, or ground equipment; as a dip treatment on cut flowers, nursery stock, dip treatment on ornamental bulbs and corms, or rose budwood; and with thermal foggers in green houses.

List of known side effects

Vinclozolin has been deemed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency to pose some cancer risks to people that this chemical has been exposed to. It is moderately toxic to freshwater/estuarine fish and invertebrates. It can affect animal reproduction, as its anti-androgenic compounds can inhibit androgen receptor binding and gene expression.

Body systems affected by vinclozolin

Vinclozolin is bad for the male reproductive system. It is said to exhibit antiandrogenic activity. To paint a clearer picture, androgens are the principal male steroid hormones, such as testosterone, that optimizes the development and maintenance of the male reproductive system.

Vinclozolin is said to also affect secondary sex characteristics, that is, a man’s physical appearance that should be unique to the gender, causing a man to have developed areolas or nipples and having a significantly reduced prostate weight.

Vinclozolin is bad for the neuroendocrine system.

Items that contain vinclozolin

Vinclozolin is a chemical that is contained in some fungicides that are used to manage diseases on turf, canola, chicory grown for Belgian endive, dry bulb onions, kiwi, lettuce, ornamentals, raspberries, and snap beans.

How to avoid vinclozolin

Since determining that vinclozolin is especially harmful to people, the EPA has taken extra steps to ensure that it won’t be within reach of children by banning the use of the chemical for residential purposes and limiting its applications to commercial and industrial uses.

The EPA even supported a phase-out of all domestic food uses of vinclozolin except for use on canola, and revocation for all import tolerances other than for wine grapes.

Where to learn more

• Red alert for humanity: Chemical damage can be inherited by offspring through unlimited generations
• Pesticide Dangers to Human Health Carry Through Multiple Generations
• Environmental Toxin Causes Heritable Adult-Onset Diseases (press release)
• Exposure to common fungicide causes neurological problems across four generations
• Fungicide chemicals found to produce autism-like symptoms in animal studies, causing inflammation of the nervous system

Summary

Vinclozolin is bad for the male reproductive and neuroendocrine systems.

Vinclozolin is said to exhibit antiandrogenic activity.

Vinclozolin is moderately toxic to freshwater/estuarine fish and invertebrates.

Sources include:

Archive.EPA.gov

PubChem.NCBI.NLM.NIH.gov