PAS 2021: Plenary session on prenatal environmental contaminants and childhood disease
A state of the art plenary session during the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2021 Virtual Meeting discussed prenatal environmental contaminants and childhood disease, and the latest evidence for epigenetic mechanisms associated with transgenerational disease and public policy implications.
Three generational animal models now conclusively demonstrate that fetal exposure to the same environmental chemicals now found in virtually every human pregnancy is linked to multigenerational disease. The diseases range from onset of puberty abnormalities, obesity, immune disorders, cancer, polycystic ovaries, abnormal sperm, behavioral abnormalities and perinatal complications. The mechanism of transmission of disease across generations appears to be non-genetic and correlates with epigenetic changes seen in exposed offspring and their descendants.