Avoid plastic

[Guest]

I recently read an article about genetic research that inadvertantly discovered some of the harm plastics cause. The news article I read said that a lab assistant used the \"wrong\" cleaner when cleaning the plastic waterers and all female mice developed double chromosomes, which led to further testing which produced thisArticle.
I had the fortune to work for a vet in Colorado who\'s mother, Theo Colborn, was the founding member of a team that produced this book Our Stolen Future years ago. When the book first came out, it was national news, but the plastic lobbyists in WA. put the squeeze on and it was \"hushed up\". We even had secret agents protecting the vet and her family as threats had been made! I\'m happy that there is enough of a movement now that maybe something will change.
Anyhow, avoid using plastic waterers and never place them in the sun or clean them with anything but plain ol\' soap & water if you use them.

[Guest]

Thank you for posting!!! Let me add that plastic should NEVER be put in the microwave!! It releases toxins in to the air and is absorbed by whatever you are heating! Plastic bags are also a concern as well as plastic food bins that could be left in the sun.
Good luck and keep it clean!!

[Guest]

I way in on this. I am an educator (Physics/Math/ Chemistry), a few years ago I read an article that these researchers were looking for the increase in the early onset of puberty in girls. They traced it to the estrogen-like compounds released into plastic-covered microwave foods when cooked.

To weird for me to make this up.

[greeneggsandham]

Hmmm...I thought it was the growth hormones that were being used in the grow out houses.   :thinking:

[Guest]

Evidently the cleaning solution they were using was a strong base and the reaction with the plastic in the cage released the BPA. People who would want to intentionally change the genetic structure of an organism can use this information to help them in their research. Many times in order to understand how something works in a cell you have to have an abnormality to study.

In mammals, aneuploidy is not a good thing. I worked at a university that was attempting to produce fish that had four sets of chromosomes ( polyploidy) and they actually pulled it off. Polyploidy is a good thing in plants because many of the strains of corn etc. have an extra set of chromosomes and that makes them a strong and better producer.

If this worked in chickens you could get some interesting phenotypes.

The Mad Scientist