Bikies,
From Science magazine:
Air Pollution and Heritable Mutations
Air pollution from vehicles, industry, and power stations can have adverse
affects on the environment and public health. Now a report in the 14 May
2004 Science indicates that airborne contaminants cause damage that can be
passed on to future generations. Somers et al.
(
<http://eloop.goldlasso.com/redir.php?s=1478&u=602734&f=2&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.s
ciencemag.org%2Fcgi%2Fcontent%2Fshort%2F304%2F5673%2F1008>http://www.sciencemag.
org/cgi/content/short/304/5673/1008 ) showed that offspring of mice exposed
to steel mill and highway air pollution for ten weeks inherited mutations
in a marker gene twice as frequently as offspring of mice in a rural
environment. Furthermore, the researchers demonstrated that filtering the
polluted air through high-efficiency particulate-air (HEPA) filters --
which remove more than 99.9% of particles 0.3 micrometers in diameter --
reduced the mutation rate by about 50%. This suggests that the culprit
mutagens are inhaled particles or particle-bound contaminants such as
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. As noted in an accompanying Perspective
by Samet et al. (
<http://eloop.goldlasso.com/redir.php?s=1478&u=602734&f=2&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.s
ciencemag.org%2Fcgi%2Fcontent%2Fshort%2F304%2F5673%2F971>http://www.sciencemag.o
rg/cgi/content/short/304/5673/971 ), exactly how these particles might
induce genetic mutations and whether such mutations occur in genes that
affect health are unknown -- as is whether particulate air pollution poses
similar heritable risk to humans and other animals.
Mark N. Shahan ------ __o
607 Piper Drive ------- _`\<,_
Madison, WI 53711-1338 ---- (*)/ (*)
(608) 274-9367
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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