home chemicals: Is it safe to play yet? amniotic hormesis

[Guest guest]

Is it safe to play yet?

<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/15/garden/going-to-extreme-lengths-to-purge-hous\

ehold-toxins.html>

MacCleery was four months pregnant when she started an inventory

of the chemicals in her andria, Va., town house. First, she

collected 70 products in a pile: things like makeup, shampoo, and sink

cleaners. Then she typed the names of the cosmetics into an online

database called Skin Deep. The results were not comforting.

see also:

Protecting, nourishing fluid can also expose fetuses to chemicals.

<http://greatlakesecho.org/2012/03/15/protecting-nourishing-fluid-can-also-expos\

e-fetuses-to-chemicals/>

Researchers tested the amniotic fluid of 15 pregnant women in southeast

Michigan for flame retardant chemicals called PBDEs. Amniotic fluid both

cushions fetuses and provides nutrients for development. The chemicals

were in every sample.

Low doses, big effects: Scientists seek 'fundamental changes' in

testing, regulation of hormone-like chemicals. <http://bit.ly/x4bGYO>

By Marla Cone Environmental Health News 15 March 2012

Small doses can have big health effects. That is a main finding of a new

report, three years in the making, published Wednesday by a team of 12

scientists who study hormone-altering chemicals. " Fundamental changes in

chemical testing are needed to protect human health, " they wrote.

After examining hundreds of studies, the researchers concluded that

health effects " are remarkably common " when people or animals are

exposed to low doses of endocrine-disrupting compounds. As examples,

they provide evidence for several controversial chemicals, including

bisphenol A, found in polycarbonate plastic, canned foods and paper

receipts, and the pesticide atrazine, used in large volumes mainly on corn.

Opinion: 'There are no safe doses for endocrine disruptors.'

<http://bit.ly/yzjnqK>

By Vandenberg Environmental Health News 15 March 2012

As a scientist, I am often asked what " proof " links hormone-altering

chemicals to diseases and birth defects.

One mother questions whether exposures during her pregnancy caused her

child's autism. Another asks whether chemicals in the foods she ate

could have caused her son's abnormal genitalia. The underlying question

raised by these mothers is provocative: Do small amounts contribute to

human health problems?

My colleagues and I have concluded in a new report that there truly are

no safe doses for hormone-altering chemicals. Academic, regulatory and

industry scientists must work together to identify and replace such

chemicals that are ubiquitous in everyday consumer products. Reducing

and eventually eliminating these exposures is absolutely needed to

protect human health.

Long-lived epigenetic interactions between perinatal PBDE exposure and

Mecp2308 mutation. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22343140>

Woods R, Vallero RO, Golub M, Suarez JK, Ta TA, Yasui DH, Chi LH,

Kostyniak PJ, Pessah IN, Berman RF, Lasalle JM.

Hum Mol Genet. 2012 Feb 15

Preliminary evidence of the in vitro effects of BDE-47 on innate immune

responses in children with autism spectrum disorders.

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19211157>

Ashwood P, Schauer J, Pessah IN, Van de Water J.

J Neuroimmunol. 2009 Mar 31;208(1-2):130-5.