Pesticide linked to three generations of disease: Methoxychlor causes epigenetic changes

Pesticide linked to three generations of disease: Methoxychlor causes epigenetic changes

Washington State University researchers say ancestral exposures to the pesticide methoxychlor may lead to adult onset kidney disease, ovarian disease and obesity in future generations.

"What your great-grandmother was exposed to during pregnancy, like the pesticide methoxychlor, may promote a dramatic increase in your susceptibility to develop disease, and you will pass this on to your grandchildren in the absence of any continued exposures," says Michael Skinner, WSU professor and founder of its Center for Reproductive Biology.

He and his colleagues document their findings in a paper published online in PLOS ONE.

DDT replacement banned in 2003

Methoxychlor -- also known as Chemform, Methoxo, Metox or Moxie -- was introduced in 1948 and widely used during the 1970s as a safer replacement for DDT. It was used on crops, ornamental plants, livestock and pets. It is still used in many countries around the world.

It was banned in the U.S. in 2003 due to its toxicity and ability to disrupt endocrine systems. Methoxychlor can behave like the hormone estrogen and profoundly affects the reproductive system.

Supports earlier epigenetic findings

When Skinner and his colleagues exposed gestating rats to methoxychlor at a range typical of high environmental exposures, they saw increases in the incidence of kidney disease, ovary disease and obesity in offspring spanning three generations. The incidence of multiple diseases increased in the third generation or "great-grandchildren."

The researchers say the pesticide may be affecting how genes are turned on and off in the progeny of an exposed animal, even though its DNA and gene sequences remain unchanged.

This is called transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. In recent years, the Skinner lab has documented epigenetic effects from a host of environmental toxicants, including DDT, plastics, pesticides, fungicides, dioxins, hydrocarbons and the plasticizer bisphenol-A or BPA. The newest findings support those observations.

Implications for obesity, fertility, disease

The work is also the first to show that a majority of transgenerational disease traits can be transmitted primarily through the female line.

Additionally, the study identified mutations in the sperm epigenome of great-grandchild male rats. The epigenome functions like a set of switches for regulating gene expression and can be altered by environmental conditions.

I'm tired of people who say "Pesticides aren't bad for you because no one is dropping dead right on the spot" That's an idiot sentiment.

This study shows that even if you aren't directly exposed to pesticides, your health could have been effected by exposure your parents or grandparents had to the chemical. Exposures to methoxychlor over the past 50 years in North America may be playing a part in today's increasing rates of obesity and disease. The findings show that the damage that could be done is reduced fertility, increased adult onset disease and the potential to pass on those conditions to subsequent generations.

Another reason why we should be doing Aquapoinc/Hydroponic food farming.

We continue to have tens of thousands of synthetic chemicals in our food chain, and water supply. It's infected the environment. The bulk of these have not been tested for safety, yet are in use. We know so little about how they effect us, now, and our offspring('s offspring)'s offspring!)!)!

One giant petri dish: we are unwitting experimentees and experimenters, barraging on in the name of "progress"... consequences be damned.

... Imagine, that child you label as "antisocial" could have propensities not because of his upbringing, or his long term inheritance, but because of a mucking of the environment over the last century since the age of Petrochemicals.

Pandora's box met reality but it seems everyone decided to check out rather than take notice.

originally posted by: pl3bscheese
We continue to have tens of thousands of synthetic chemicals in our food chain, and water supply. It's infected the environment. The bulk of these have not been tested for safety, yet are in use. We know so little about how they effect us, now, and our offspring('s offspring)'s offspring!)!)!

One giant petri dish: we are unwitting experimentees and experimenters, barraging on in the name of "progress"... consequences be damned.

... Imagine, that child you label as "antisocial" could have propensities not because of his upbringing, or his long term inheritance, but because of a mucking of the environment over the last century since the age of Petrochemicals.

Pandora's box met reality but it seems everyone decided to check out rather than take notice.

I couldn't agree with you more.

Coming from an area where there is farming & the farms run off gets into the creek, which then runs into our local lakes, I can't help but wonder if that is why there are so many sick children from my town & surrounding area.

I also wonder if my Dad working at Tech Cominco had any effect on my health & my sisters. It was a smeltering plant that dealth with Zinc, Lead & exposure to Cesium 137 as a bi-product.

People don't want to think about the environmental impacts we have had on this planet & ignore what it could be doing to our bodies and any children we might have. We really are ignorant to it and many till choose to remain ignorant to it.

"Without pesticides, how can we feed anyone?" is often the argument but it's a lame argument that people use because they don't want to think outside of the box or think to look outside the box.

I'd agree with you about aquaponics, not so sure about hydroponics which requires a large chemical input of its own and as the chemical soup the plants are growing in gets depleted, that stuff gets dumped into the local environment also.

Far better to replicate nature as far as possible given how much we've poisoned nature, itself.

I've been thinking a lot about this subject lately; what do you routinely put down your drains, cleaning products, bleach, hair dye, shampoo and conditioner, paint from cleaning brushing, pharmaceuticals, antibiotics and hormones, all the godknowswhat from industrial processes.... and then add in fluoride? All that, sent through the 'water treatment plants' and is concentrated again and again and again in the effluent which is generally sent down a stream or out into the ocean.

a reply to: signalfire

Aquaponics. You can start with worms, and duckwood, feed the fish, which feeds the plants, which recycles the aquarium water. It's a synthetic ecosystem, that doesn't require much of any synthetic chemicals if you set it up correctly.

a reply to: knoledgeispower

Good catch. F&S&

....Epigenetics is about how lifeforms respond to environmental change without changing DNA. So any change will trigger an epigenetic response. I hope it's all fixable but suspect the path back might be just as rocky as the one that brought us to this pass (with respect to triggering more epigenetic responses).

a reply to: knoledgeispower

S&F for you!!

It is a shame that even with studies such as these there are those who have grown so accustomed to the drivel put out by corporate science that they still will not believe it! It is common sense, really it is beyond common sense, you would figure that the survival instinct in and of itself would trigger a response from us the people being experimented on!

They are poisoning our entire environment, we are letting them, have been for generations they have been able to get away with it, that is beginning to change! You can not stop the organic movement, one of the recent groups that I believe will be quite the force is Moms Against Monsanto. They have woken mama bear and she can be quite angry when the illusion is lifted and the truth is shown, you have been poisoning your child as well as having them poisoned from others. I believe the anger that is fomenting on this issue alone will be spark a movement across this country that is unstoppable!

I will forever remain optimistic! We have been going through a learning cycle and our great mother earth has been kind enough to let us her children make our mistakes, it is time we grow up and took responsibility for our actions!