Exposure to environmental compounds and insecticides like DDT may be linked to obesity

In recent years, the Skinner lab has documented epigenetic effects from a host of environmental toxicants, including plastics, pesticides, fungicides, dioxins, hydrocarbons and the plasticizer bisphenol-A or BPA. However, says Skinner, the frequency of DDT effects on obesity are far greater than other toxicants his lab has reviewed.He notes that more than 50 years have passed since Rachel Carson's book "Silent Spring" documented many of DDT's effects on the environment.
Its use has since been banned in the U.S. However, says Skinner, "the third generation of people exposed in the 1950s is now of adult age and has a dramatic increase in diseases such as obesity."Meanwhile, he says, groups like the U.S. Agency for International Development and the World Health Organization are backing the use of DDT to control malaria in developing countries."The potential transgenerational actions of DDT need to be considered in the risk-benefit analysis of its use," says Skinner.
Source-Eurekalert