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Vanessa Ward

Endocrine Disruptors and the Obesity Epidemic -- Heindel 76 (2): 247 -- Toxicological S... - 1 views

  • "We are faced with the seeming paradox of increased adiposity at both ends of the birth weight spectrum—higher BMI with higher birth weight and increased central obesity with lower birth weight" (Oken and Gillman, 2003). Thus prevention of childhood and adult obesity must start in utero.
  • Indeed, many synthetic chemicals are actually used to increase weight in animals.
  • This article provides fascinating examples of chemicals that have been tested for toxicity by standard tests that resulted in weight gain in the animals at lower doses than those that caused any obvious toxicity.
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  • Chemicals having endocrine-disrupting activity rise to the top of the list as most act via receptors linked to activation of transcriptional activity.
  • In the adult, loss of circulating estrogen due to ovariectomy leads to increased body and adipose tissue weights. Estrogen receptor alpha knockout mice have a significantly increased body fat content, and estrogen decreases the activity of lipoprotein lipase
  • estrogenic endocrine-disrupting chemical bisphenol A at concentrations as low as 2 µg/ml, in the presence of insulin, stimulated differentiation of the 3T3L1 cells into adipocytes
  • he fact that an environmental chemical has the potential to stimulate growth of "preadipocytes" has enormous implications for the area of obesity and its control.
  • Differentiation could be inhibited and more potential fat cells could be formed, as seems to be the case with NP, or differentiation could be stimulated, as appears to be the case with BPA
  • Will these results extrapolate to the in vivo situation in rodents and other animal models?
  • Only time and more research will tell, but the door has been opened by the novel work being highlighted.
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    An article discussing how the area of research of obesity as a result of endocrine disrupting chemical exposure could be a beneficial area for intervention and prevention studies of obesity. This was one of the first articles I found directly addressing how endocrine disrupting chemical exposure can lead to a predisposition to obesity
Liz Richardson

Environmental Signaling: What Embryos and Evolution Teach Us About Endocrine Disrupting... - 0 views

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    An overview of many endocrine disrupting chemicals, useful to anyone looking into the effects of environmental chemicals on organisms. Reference made to a book titled "Hormonal Chaos", by Sheldon Krimsky, describing how industrial and agricultural chemicals contact organisms and disrupt hormone function. Specifics on effects of environmental estrogens and fetal development.
cmccleery1

Endocrine disruption in fish - Google Books - 0 views

shared by cmccleery1 on 24 May 10 - Cached
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    This is a google preview of a book which is about how the endocrine system is obstructed nad affected in fish
suwhitte

Endocrine Disruption Prevention Act of 2009 - 0 views

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    A letter from the American Fisheries Society to Obama asking him to support the Endocrine Disruption Prevention Act of 2009.
suwhitte

The endocrine system and endocrine disruptors | The Canary Report - 0 views

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    An exchange site for those concerned about chemical sensitivity. Many links to interesting articles.
Anna McLean

NRDC: Endocrine Disruptors - 0 views

shared by Anna McLean on 11 Jun 10 - Cached
  • 5. Should humans be concerned for their health based on evidence that fish, birds and alligators have been affected? Yes. All vertebrates (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals, including humans) are fundamentally similar during early embryonic development. Scientists can therefore use the evidence acquired on other species to make predictions about endocrine disrupting effects on humans.
  • 6. Is there direct evidence that humans are susceptible to endocrine disruption?
  • 8. These days don't chemicals have to be safe to be allowed on the market? No.
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    Frequently asked-type questions
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    Obviously, this site is for the general public. But, it could be a useful link for your webpages if you want some basic background information to persuade people that this IS relevant to them and their families.
Anna McLean

Gender Benders & Endocrine Disruptors around You - 0 views

  • Some Health Consequences of DES
  • Timeline of Synthetic Endocrine Disruptors (POPs)
  • Mechanisms of Endocrine Disruption
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    General ED site. Touches on consequences of DES use in offspring of the using mother. Includes a useful timeline of POP use
Anna McLean

Our Stolen Future: New science on the impacts of endocrine disruptors on brain and beha... - 0 views

  • The sex steroids (testosterone, estrogen, etc.) contribute to, among other things, sexual differentiate of brain centers, and thereby, to the development of sexual identity and sexual behaviors
  • A rapidly increasing body of scientific research is revealing mechanisms of action, demonstrating impacts of disrupted development, and exploring links between intelligence, behavior and contamination experienced in the womb. What is emerging from this research is that brain and behavior are likely to be the most sensitive endpoints vulnerable to endocrine disruption. Many synthesized compounds in commercial use today, moreover, can derail neurological development.
  • April 2003. Exposure in the womb to extremely low levels of bisphenol A alters sexual differentiation of the brain and behavior in rats. More...
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  • September 2002. Dutch scientists report that boys exposed prenatally to higher levels of PCBs and dioxin are more likely to show demasculinized play behaviors. Girls and boys exposed to modestly elevated dioxin levels demonstrate more feminized play behaviors. The scientists suggest that that these alterations in play result from endocrine disruption of the development of sex-specific behaviors. More...
  • disturbed sexual differentiation of reproductive behavior, potentiating the expression of feminine sexual behavior and reducing masculine behavior."
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    This document is the web site for the book titled Our Stolen Future. There are numerous sections with "more..." links to full pages on the summarized topic. This is a great tool for my project.
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    Highlighted text indicates areas applicable to my topic.
Vanessa Ward

Epigenetics, Evolution, Endocrine Disruption, Health, and Disease -- Crews and McLachla... - 1 views

  • Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in the environment have been linked to human health and disease. This is particularly evident in compounds that mimic the effects of estrogens.
  • information recently uncovered, regarding mechanisms of endocrine and environmental signaling, to explore the role of the environment in health and disease.
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    This a good article that gives a general overview of EDC's and the role they play in the compromise of physical and mental health. One particularly interesting thing is how a discussion of EDC's and evolution is presented.
Vanessa Ward

Endocrine Disruptors IV: Cancer in Our Foods - 1 views

  • Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a group of compounds that include over one hundred different contaminants
  • PAHs are persistent compounds. They are not easily broken down, so they can last for a long time. Also, they bioaccumulate—the higher up in the food chain you go, the higher the concentration of PAHs within the organism.
  • To be safe, there are several ways of reducing exposure to PAHs
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    I thought this was an interesting introductory site to PAH's and how they relate to endocrine disruption. The main focus is on PAH's, which are the result of incompletely burned material such as coal, wood, oil, or gas. Eating grilled foods could increase the exposure to PAH's as well as cigarette smoke, exhaust and even natural sources such as forest fires. Exposure to PAH's could lead to the development of cancer.
suwhitte

Gordon Research Conferences - 2010 Program (Environmental Endocrine Disruptors) - 0 views

shared by suwhitte on 20 May 10 - Cached
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    At this upcoming conference and past conferences (see conference history), top scientists, studying endocrine disruption effects on humans and wildlife, meet to share the latest findings. Look over the program for topics and scientists - may be useful in identifying a topic for your project. I have attended two of these conferences and they were excellent and very current.
suwhitte

Environment and health: 6. Endocrine disruption and potential human health implications... - 0 views

shared by suwhitte on 20 May 10 - Cached
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    link to a pdf of a review article on endocrine disruptors and human health. A nice overview of the field.
Vanessa Ward

San Francisco Medical Society | The Weight of Evidence - 0 views

  • “leading to neglect of other plausible mechanisms and well-intentioned but potentially ill-founded proposals for reducing obesity rates”
  • Since publication of that review, substantial evidence has emerged that increases the plausibility of one of the alternative mechanisms suggested by Keith et al: disruption of weight regulation by endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in the environment.
  • Concerns about the potential contribution of EDCs to childhood obesity build from two considerations, one out of human biology and the other from animal experiments
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  • Prior
  • toxicologists were concerned more with weight loss, which was seen as an adverse outcome.
  • Many of these chemicals alter the behavior of specific genes that are involved in determining the number of fat cells (adipocytes) an individual will have as an adult.
  • he list of contaminants implicated by animal studies is substantial, including several estrogenic EDCs such as DES, bisphenol A, soy phytoestrogens
  • Almost no human data are available to test the obesogen hypothesis in people. No epidemiological evidence exists, because the hypothesis is so new
  • One in vitro experiment, however, has demonstrated that exposure to obesogens increases the rate of conversion of human stem cells to adipocytes (Kirchner et al 2010), confirming the validity of the basic mechanism and the relevance of the animal studies to people.
  • That would be a big win for medicine and public health.
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    San Francisco Medical Society discusses the possible relationship between chemical exposure and the obesity epidemic.
Vanessa Ward

2010 March « Our Health and Environment Blog - 0 views

  • n addition to these issues, the prestigious international Endocrine Society published a seminal report last year stating that, “scientific research implies the impact of environmental substances in the generative roots of obesity.”
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    This is a letter addressing the "obesogen theory" and how the government could play a role in the prevention of obesity through the implementation of beter food regulations. I thought it was interesting to see a current letter addressing my topic and maybe it's a type source other people can look for that they may not have initially thought of.
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    A link in this article led me to another useful source. I didn't know that the White House was involved with this and that obesogens were brought to their attention until I read this letter. Bruce Blumberg signed the letter and since many of my sources are about his studies I thought it was neat how this letter tied together some of my research.
Anna McLean

Would you like lemon, or BPA with your water? - 0 views

  • The only problem was that vinyl products generally contain significant amounts of Bisphenol-A (BPA), a plastic additive, exposure to which causes disruption of endocrine hormones
  • BPA in plastic baby bottles
  • What makes BPA such a problem? It affects everyone, but developing fetuses and small children are particularly vulnerable.
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  • It alters the levels of endocrine hormones, which has effects ranging from learning disabilities to diseases and altered sexual development.
  • BPA is currently banned in Chicago, the State of Minnesota and Suffolk County, NY.
suwhitte

Environmental Agents: Endocrine Disruptors - 0 views

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    site maintained by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
Liz Richardson

Global assessment of the state-of-the-science of endocrine disruptors - 0 views

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    This is just the index, but the WHO has attempted to pinpoint which hormone compounds are most effective EEDs, and which hormones are most often mimicked. Discusses EED effects on wildlife as well as humans. Criteria for assessment of endocrine disruptors proposed for future studies.
suwhitte

frontline: fooling with nature: interviews: theo colborn - 0 views

shared by suwhitte on 20 May 10 - Cached
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    Interview with Theo Colburn author of Our Stolen Future and one of the discoverers of the phenomenon of endocrine disruption.
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