1. Environmental Health Sciences www.EnvironmentalHealthNews.org www.EnvironmentalHealthNews.org www.OurStolenFuture.org Environmental Health Sciences John Peterson Myers, Ph.D. A revolution in the environmental health sciences: New opportunities to prevent disease.

2. Environmental Health Sciences www.EnvironmentalHealthNews.org Profound changes in how we think about links between contamination and human health. Mid-stream in a scientific revolution Dramatic opportunities for prevention Unexpected discoveries about products, including some plastics, we thought were safe Profound changes Unexpected discoveries

3. Environmental Health Sciences www.EnvironmentalHealthNews.org -High dose experiments don’t predict those low dose impacts. Three key discoveries -Adult diseases and sensitivity to subsequent exposures can be programmed during development. -Some contaminants can alter gene behavior at extremely low doses. extremely low doses low dose impacts

4. Environmental Health Sciences www.EnvironmentalHealthNews.org 2. High level tests don’t predict low level impacts 3 lessons from two mice Same strain of mice Same caloric intake Same activity levels Newbold et al. 2005, 2007 1 part per billion DES 100 ppb causes weight loss Exposure in the womb -->Obese as adult 1. Low levels matter 3. Fetal exposures alter adult health

5. Environmental Health Sciences www.EnvironmentalHealthNews.org Traditional toxicology and epidemiology are highly likely to have underestimated low-dose impacts on human health, including cancer. What does this revolution reveal? They have given us a false sense of security about the safety of many chemicals. And they have hidden the path toward effective disease prevention.

6. Environmental Health Sciences www.EnvironmentalHealthNews.org The genetic basis of many human diseases Roots of the revolution? ????

7. Environmental Health Sciences www.EnvironmentalHealthNews.org Heredity: What we get from our parents Two ways to think about genes Gene behavior : Chemical manufacturing machines

8. Environmental Health Sciences www.EnvironmentalHealthNews.org Other genes and signals they send What changes gene expression? Stress Diet Experience Environmentalcontaminants Heredity “Classic Genetics” “Classic Environment”

9. Environmental Health Sciences www.EnvironmentalHealthNews.org Genetics vs. Environment Heredity Health Diet, experience, stress, contamination

10. Environmental Health Sciences www.EnvironmentalHealthNews.org Conceptual shifts Old… a disease that is linked to genes is a disease under hereditary control. New… a disease linked to genes is one vulnerable to environmental causes… to genetic hijacking

11. Environmental Health Sciences www.EnvironmentalHealthNews.org Conceptual shifts New… impacts at everyday levels… …levels people had become accustomed to calling “normal,” background levels… Old… only high levels matter …levels that couldn’t even be measured 20 yrs ago.

12. Environmental Health Sciences www.EnvironmentalHealthNews.org Allergic reactions increased by exposure to low levels Parts per billion Parts per trillion Narita et al. 2007

13. Environmental Health Sciences www.EnvironmentalHealthNews.org Diabetes risk: NHANES data 2,016 subjects 6 POPs: PCB153 0.001 Heptadioxin 0.007 OCDdioxin 0.094 Oxychlordane 0.001 DDE 0.001 trans-Nonachlor 0.001 POPs and Risk of Type II Diabetes

14. Environmental Health Sciences www.EnvironmentalHealthNews.org Bad news, good news Good news… A disease under genetic control may be one caused by genetic hijacking. We will have the opportunity to prevent many diseases that heretofore have not been perceived as preventable.

15. Environmental Health Sciences www.EnvironmentalHealthNews.org Hormone-related cancers Learning disabilities, ADHD Pre-term birth, miscarriage Obesity and diabetes Asthma Degenerative diseases Infertility Endometriosis, autoimmunity Autism Today’s epidemics