Review articlePerspective on pre- and post-natal agro-food exposure to persistent organic pollutants and their effects on quality of life

- Need to focus on biomonitoring programs to evaluate body burden
- Pharmacokinetic-based models can be used to predict infant load due to breastfeeding.
- It is of paramount importance to have good estimations of their health impacts.
- Changes in personal lifestyle habits are recommended.
- Better understanding of the exposure-effect link will help to develop a unified policy.

BackgroundAdipose tissue constitutes a continual source of internal exposure to organic pollutants (OPs). When fats mobilize during pregnancy and breastfeeding, OPs could affect foetal and neonatal development, respectively.Scope and approachThe main aim of this review is to deal with pre- and post-natal external exposure to organic pollutants and their effects on health, proposing prevention measures to reduce their risk. The goal is the development of a biomonitoring framework program to estimate their impact on human health, and prevent exposure by recommending some changes in personal lifestyle habits.Key findings and conclusionsIt has been shown that new studies should be developed taking into account their cumulative effect and the factors affecting their body burden. In conclusion, several programs should continuously be developed by different health agencies to have a better understanding of the effect of these substances and to develop a unified public policy.