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Transgenerational Chemicals

According to a recent study, Grandma may be passing along a lot more than the family recipes to her offspring: It turns out that when a woman is exposed to chemicals during pregnancy, not only her children but her grandchildren and even her great grandchildren will suffer the consequences.

In a study at Washington State University’s School of Molecular Biosciences, the offspring of laboratory animals exposed to a widely used fungicide during pregnancy were mated with similarly exposed offspring. Though the animals appeared perfectly fine at birth, they suffered a host of health problems when they reached the age of maturity. Breast tumors, prostate and kidney disease and immune dysfunction were all linked to exposure to the toxicant, which appeared to cause disease over multiple generations, even though those subsequent generations had never been exposed.

The study, published in the journal Endocrinology, raises the possibility that some toxicants are far more harmful than previously believed. It also bolsters the argument that while pesticides, fungicides and other toxicants may not cause direct harm to those exposed, they are far more dangerous to the developing fetus – and, as it now appears, the future offspring of that fetus.

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To see a copy of the study, click here.

To read more about this and other environmental health issues, go to: www.environmentalhealthnews.org, www.ourstolenfuture.org, or www.healthandenvironment.org