Posted: 30 Sep 2012 07:45 PM PDT
Dioxin,
one of the main ingredients in Agent Orange, which was widely used in
Vietnam, has now been shown to cause significant disease and
reproductive problems multigenerationally. In the new research, the
third generation of rats descended from an exposed group of rats had
even more dramatic disease than the second generation.
Similar research on the multigenerational health effects of common pesticides was just published earlier this year.
Washington State University biologist Michael Skinner and members of his lab “say dioxin administered to pregnant rats resulted in a variety of reproductive problems and disease in subsequent generations. The first generation of rats had prostate disease, polycystic ovarian disease and fewer ovarian follicles, the structures that contain eggs. To the surprise of Skinner and his colleagues, the third generation had even more dramatic incidences of ovarian disease and, in males, kidney disease.”
“Therefore, it is not just the individuals exposed, but potentially the great-grandchildren that may experience increased adult-onset disease susceptibility,” says Skinner.
