Environmental Toxins: Environmental Toxin Causes Heritable Diseases

Newswise reports that a recent study published in the journal of Endocrinology and performed at Washington State Univeristy has shown evidence that environmental toxins can cause descendants of an animal exposed to an environmental toxins to suffer from adult-onset diseases. Michael K. Skinner, director of the Center of Reproductive Biology, says that the results offer "a new way to think about disease" and also emphasize the long-term hazards of environmental toxins.

The researchers exposed pregnant rats to vinclozolin, a fungicide used in vineyards. While Skinner's group used higher levels of vinclozolin than usually are present in the environment, the results still raise questions about the effects exposure can have during pregnancy. Offspring of the pregnant rats had low sperm counts and a high incidence of adult-onset diseases. When these male rats mated with females who had not been exposed to the toxins, offspring had the same problems as the father rats. Effects lasted for four generations. “Only the original generation mother was exposed to the environmental toxicant,” said Skinner. “A human analogy would be if your grandmother was exposed to an environmental toxicant during mid-gestation, you may develop a disease state even though you never had direct exposure, and you may pass it on to your great-grandchildren.”