Posted by Sir Four at 1:30pm Aug 3 '09 Chemicals that our bodies absorb, ingest or inhale may be causing us to become fatter. According to this Washington Post article, these chemicals, which mimic hormones, trigger fat-cell activity. A CDC study found that levels of bisphenol A in 95% of those tested were higher than those found to have an effect in animals. Such chemicals are being called obesogens--chemicals believed to cause obesity.
BPA is now pretty well-known, but isn't the only one causing concern:
This issue fits under a larger concern, which is that the chemical producing industry has developed thousands of new chemicals that have been put out into the environment as well as the products we buy without even minimal testing done to see what effect they have on human health. Is this really the right way to conduct business?
BPA is now pretty well-known, but isn't the only one causing concern:
Tributyltin is used as a marine and agricultural fungicide, an antimicrobial agent in industrial water systems, and in plastics; it can cause serious sexual abnormalities in marine animals.
"What we discovered," Blumberg said, is that tributyltin disrupted genetic interactions that regulate fat-cell activity in animals. "Exposure to tributyltin is increasing the number of fat cells, so the individual will get fatter faster as these cells produce more of the hormones that say 'feed me,'" Blumberg said. The exposed animals, he added, remain predisposed to obesity for life.
This issue fits under a larger concern, which is that the chemical producing industry has developed thousands of new chemicals that have been put out into the environment as well as the products we buy without even minimal testing done to see what effect they have on human health. Is this really the right way to conduct business?
Obesogens - Are Chemicals Contributing to Obesity? - Sir Four