Protect our Great Grandchildren too!

Hi everyone! Lia here from the science side of Protect Our Breasts! Last year, I wrote an introduction to endocrine disruptors in which I explained how various toxicants can be accepted into the body, mimicking natural hormones. The body cannot tell that these substances are foreign, and often allows them to interrupt functions of the hormone system. Results of this interruption can range from future behavioral problems, fertility issues, and even cancer.

A few weeks ago, a study by Washington State University was published with conclusions that endocrine disruptors can have effects that are passed on through several generations, even though offspring are not directly exposed. In this particular study, results showed that even the great-grandchildren of the exposed rats had elevated rates of serious health problems.

While the study focused on dioxin exposure, which is a chemical contaminant from different industrial processes, other compounds such as BPA, phthalates, and DEET, have also been shown to have transgenerational effects.  In this study, the first group of pregnant rats was exposed directly to dioxins, and the endocrine disruption persisted all the way to their great-grandchildren. This study is more evidence that environmental exposures are capable of permanently changing how genes are expressed, or turned on or off, without damaging the gene, and that these changes can be inherited. These results have immense consequences, as a woman has a risk of passing along effects of low doses of endocrine disruptors for about twenty years afterwards. And these effects can increase the risk of health problems.

I found this article very validating of the work Protect Our Breasts is doing. It is our responsibility to inform others about chemicals that act as endocrine disruptors, where these exposures are, and the potential effects. By avoiding these chemicals in our everyday products, we are not just helping ourselves, or even just our children, but our great-grandchildren too!

Dioxin (TCDD) Induces Epigenetic Transgenerational Inheritance of Adult Onset Disease and Sperm Epimutations http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0046249