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| Toxic Cocktail? Is a toxic mix more deadly than its parts? March 22, 1997 |
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Questions asked
in this forum:
Where do estrogenic toxins come from? How could combinations of estrogenic toxins be more harmful than its parts? What could be causing the discrepency between the synergy studies? Could a better cellular test be developed to look for synergy? If the Tulane study proves correct, should the EPA lower its acceptable levels for estrogenic toxins by a factor of 1600? If synergy is proven to exist, how should EPA testing of toxins be changed? Additional comments
Online NewsHour links
December 23, 1996
Fred de Sam Lazaro looks at Minnesota's mutant frogs.
January 1, 1997
Paul Solman reviews the year in genetics.
Browse the Online NewsHour's science coverage.
Alice Z. Hall of Key Largo, FL, asks: What estrogenic toxins are referred to in this program? What are they derived from; their source etc.?
Prof. Porter of the University of Wisconsin responds:
Estrogenic toxins can come from a variety of sources; plasticizers in soda straws or plastic storage dishes, the linings of food cans, the protective paints on water pipes in cities, buried underground water pumps in water supplies in rural areas, herbicides, paper manufacturing processes and various industrial processes, to name a few. Their structures are highly varied and no one yet fully understands how the tremendous molecular structural variation that can cause these effects exerts its influence.
Dr. Lynn Goldman of the EPA responds:
The chemicals used in the Tulane study were all pesticides, including endosulfan, toxaphene, dieldrin and aldrin. The EPA study used endosulfan and aldrin. Of the four chemicals only endosulfan is still used in the United States.
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