HEALTH - Dioxin study documents multigenerational disorders

Lisa Garber
NaturalSociety
September 29, 2012
A new study by Washington State University researchers found that TCDD dioxin, when exposed to one generation of pregnant rats, had a multi-generational effect resulting in a multitude of diseases. These include diseases of the kidney and ovaries as well as fertility and growth difficulties.
Dioxin is an industrial pollutant linked to cancer and reproductive disorders. For this study, the researchers used a particular dioxin called TCDD—a major component of the herbicide Agent Orange made infamous by the Vietnam War as well as recent events in agribusiness.

“Not only does the individual exposed get the disease,” says senior author Michael Skinner, “but it’s transmitted to great-grandchildren with no exposure.”

Higher Rates of Disease Across Generations

In a 2011 study, researchers determined that pregnant mice had offspring (three generations) that experienced fertility problems. The 2012 Washington State study reinforces those findings and marks the diseases that resulted through generations.

• First generation offspring experienced higher rates of prostate disease and two types of ovarian diseases compared to control groups.

• Third generation rats experienced eight times greater rates of abnormalities in puberty.

• Forty-seven percent of third generation females experienced early puberty, compared to 6 percent in the control group.

• Third generation male and female rats had increased rates of kidney and ovarian disease, respectively.

• The great-grandkids had sperm with modified gene expression in 50 regions of DNA.

While the scientists limited the pregnant rats to small amounts of dioxin exposure, these levels are still high compared to most people’s exposure from the environment. According to University of Virginia biochemist Jennifer Wolstenholme (who was not involved in the study), humans and rats eliminate dioxin from their bodies differently. Therefore, “we cannot know from these studies if people are similarly at increased risk for these same diseases.”

Read more: http://naturalsociety.com/poison-dioxin-cause-disease-three-generations/#ixzz29Ut45Un1