ANOTHER PESTICIDE LINKED TO DIABETES

[Guest guest]

http://www.precaution.org/lib/08/prn_tributyltin_and_diabetes.081203.htm

Green Daily, December 1, 2008

ANOTHER PESTICIDE LINKED TO DIABETES

['s introduction: New research published in Bioscience

implicates the common pesticide tribuyltin in the linked epidemics of

obesity and diabetes.]

By Dan Shapley

A common pesticide used to kill pests on food crops, boats, wood and

textiles could be causing diabetes, according to new research by

Japanese scientists

<http://www.precaution.org/lib/tributyltin_and_diabetes.081101.pdf>published

in Bioscience.

The pesticide in question, tributyltin, had already been known to

cause chemical burns and other skin irritation, dizziness, difficulty

breathing and flulike symptoms to workers exposed to contaminated

dust. It had already been known that tributyltin suppresses the

immune system, as well as reproductive problems and increased rates

of infant mortality and deformities in lab rats. Lab studies have

also shown that tributyltin can disrupt the endocrine system of

mammals, upsetting hormone levels in the pituitary, gonad and thyroid

glands, and causing disruptions to reproductive, immune and nervous

systems and the liver.

That's to say nothing of its effect on marine organisms, which are

also well documented. It is highly toxic to mollusks, causes female

snails to develop male characteristics, and it builds up in the food

chain, affecting predators that consume prey exposed to the chemical.

Now, new research implicates it in the obesity epidemic.

According to the American Institute of Biological Sciences:

" The harmful effects of the chemical on the liver and the nervous and

immune systems in mammals are well known, but its powerful effects on

the cellular components known as retinoid X receptors (RXRs) in a

range of species are a recent discovery. When activated, RXRs can

migrate into the nuclei of cells and switch on genes that cause the

growth of fat storage cells and regulate whole body metabolism;

compounds that affect a related receptor often associated with RXRs

are now used to treat diabetes. RXRs are normally activated by

signaling molecules found throughout the body.

" The BioScience article, by Taisen Iguchi and Yoshinao Katsu, of the

Graduate University for Advanced Studies in Japan, describes how RXRs

and related receptors are also strongly activated by tributyltin and

similar chemicals. Tributyltin impairs reproduction in water fleas

through its effects on a receptor similar to the RXR. In addition,

tributyltin causes the growth of excess fatty tissue in newborn mice

exposed to it in utero. The effects of tributyltin on RXR-like

nuclear receptors might therefore be widespread throughout the animal kingdom.

" The rise in obesity in humans over the past 40 years parallels the

increased use of industrial chemicals over the same period. Iguchi

and Katsu maintain that it is " plausible and provocative " to

associate the obesity epidemic to chemical triggers present in the

modern environment. Several other ubiquitous pollutants with strong

biological effects, including environmental estrogens such as

bisphenol A and nonylphenol, have been shown to stimulate the growth

of fat storage cells in mice. The role that tributyltin and similar

persistent pollutants may play in the obesity epidemic is now under scrutiny. "

Earlier this year, a National Institutes of Health study fund that a

different pesticide, trichlorfon, commonly used on golf courses, was

associated with an 85% increase in risk of diabetes for even

infrequent users, and a 250% increase in risk for workers who had

applied it more than 10 times. The same pesticide has been used to

kill cockroaches, crickets, bedbugs, fleas, flies and ticks, but its

main current use is on turf, such as at golf courses.

It was the most extreme connection researchers found between

pesticide applicators and diabetes, but not the only one. Use of any

of the pesticides studied for more than 100 days in a lifetime

increased diabetes risk 17%. The other pesticides studied were

aldrin, chlordane, heptachlor, dichlorvos, alachlor and cynazine, all

of which are chlorinated pesticides.

Diabetes affects nearly 21 million Americans, and rates of disease

have been increasing dramatically in recent years, particularly among children.

Copyright 2008 Hearst Communications, Inc.

--------------------------------------------------------

Sheri Nakken, former R.N., MA, Hahnemannian Homeopath

Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Nevada City CA & Wales UK

Vaccines - http://www.wellwithin1.com/vaccine.htm Vaccine Dangers &

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