Crop Chemical Making People Fat

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Yet another reason to avoid poison agriculture.

http://www.naturalnews.com/025022.html

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(NaturalNews) Many people who eat organic food and use natural

products are trying to avoid pesticides that are linked to cancer and

other diseases. Now Japanese researchers say there is another

advantage to " going green " and avoiding toxins and chemical additives

in the environment. A common pollutant has been found to have a potent

effect on gene activity and could be contributing to the obesity epidemic.

According to an article published in the December issue of the journal

Bioscience, the chemical tributyltin affects sensitive receptors in

the cells of a host of animals, ranging from water fleas to people.

What's more, tributyltin has an impact at extremely low levels — a

thousand times lower than pollutants that are known to interfere with

the sexual development of wildlife species, for example. The chemical

is known to be damaging to the liver as well as the nervous and immune

systems in mammals . But what has just been recognized is that

tributyltin also has powerful effects on the cellular components known

as retinoid X receptors (RXRs) in a range of species. That's important

because RXRs can move into the nuclei of cells and turn on genes that

cause the growth of fat storage cells and regulate whole body

metabolism. This raises a disturbing possibility: The pollutant could

be harming humans by causing slowed metabolism and weight gain.

Scientists Taisen Iguchi and Yoshinao Katsu of the Graduate University

for Advanced Studies in Japan, who wrote the BioScience article, point

out that effects of tributyltin on RXR-like nuclear receptors could be

widespread throughout the animal kingdom, including the human species.

And they note that the enormous rise in obesity over the past four

decades coincides with the increased use of industrial chemicals over

the same period.

Several other ubiquitous pollutants with strong biological effects,

including environmental estrogens such as bisphenol A and nonylphenol,

also have been found to stimulate the growth of fat storage cells in

mice. In a statement to the mediam Iguchi and Katsu said it is

" plausible and provocative " to associate the obesity epidemic to

chemical triggers found in our modern, polluted environment.

Unfortunately, it isn't easy to avoid tributyltin -- it is frequently

used as a preservative in paints for boats, wood and textiles and it

is also used as a pesticide on high-value food crops. And if you are

expecting the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to make sure you

are protected from this potentially dangerous chemical , think again.

A new report just released by the National Research Council warns the

EPA's process of generating risk assessments of the adverse effects

posed by harmful chemicals found in the environment is bogged down.

The EPA is rarely able to connect available scientific data with the

information officials need for an accurate risk assessment. The

reports states the EPA is struggling to keep up with demands for

hazard and dose-response information and doesn't have enough resources

to adequately cope.

The risk assessment for trichloroethylene is an example cited by the

report. A chemical used to remove grease from metal parts and an

ingredient in adhesives, paint removers, typewriter correction fluids,

and spot removers, trichloroethylene has been associated with cancer,

heart problems and liver and lung damage for decades. However,

although a risk assessment for trichloroethylene has been under

development since the 1980s, official EPA risk management decisions

about the chemical is not expected until 2010.