US (NC): New technique could make identifying chemicals easier
When UNC-Chapel Hill scientists spilled commonly used fungicides onto mouse brain cells, genes inside those cells changed. Activity levels among some of the genes shifted to distinctive patterns observed in the brains of people with autism.
First hear this: No one has proven that a class of popular crop-field fungicides causes brain damage. For starters, mouse brain cells are not human brain cells (though they are more alike than many people know). And cell studies don’t prove that chemical X produces human brain abnormality Y.
That said, the recently published research is compelling evidence that the potential of human health risks from a popular class of farm fungicides may merit closer study.
For nearly 100 years, many toxicology studies exposed mice or other lab animals to chemicals to see if they do harm. Damage to skin, disruption of reproduction and the growth of tumors all flag concerns.
But it isn’t always clear how to extrapolate data from one strain of mice to diverse populations of people. And animal studies can’t clarify precisely how chemicals affect functioning in cells, information that both help prevent and treat illness.
Several federal research agencies, particularly those located in North Carolina, are promoting newer toxicology screens. These use automated laboratory tools, computer analysis and plates of cells or tissues as research subjects to help predict ways that compounds might affect people and the environment.
Read more at North Carolina Health News