h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Prof vom Saal of the Univ of Missouri reported at the AAAS conference in San Francisco in February yjat chemicals present in plastics and pesticides could be priming unborn babes to obesity.
He took pregnant mice and divided them into 3 groups. The 'Control' group were fed a normal diet, a second group were fed di-ethystilbestrol (DES) and a third group were fed bisphenol A (BPA).

DES is a synthetic form of oestrogen which was once given to pregnant women to prevent miscarriage, but which was withdrawn in the 1970s due to an adverse effect on children

BPA is widely used in the manuf. of re-usable food containers, tins and even babies' bottles.

Prof vom Saal reported that the baby mice which had been exposed were very small at birth, but gained abnormally large amounts of weight in a short time, and remained obese for the rest of their lives. He said that stiudies on children had suggested that those with low birth weight 'over-compensated' and end up more over weight than other children.

Chemicals such as these are endocrine disruptors, colloqially known as 'gender bending chemicals', and have been linked to breast cancer and sex changes in fish in polluted waterways.

Prof vom Saa said that there are an estimated 55000 man-made chemicals in the world and, of these, some 1000 could be described as endocrine disruptors.