Companion film to KING CORN about the ecological consequences of industrial…
Programmed To Be Fat?
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- Transcript
What if something is happening to children pre-natally that is programming our species to be heavier than we should be?
Perhaps being fat isn't simply the result of too much food, too little exercise, and genetics. Controversial new science is raising suspicion about chemicals in our environment that may be setting us up for obesity before we're even born.
Every second adult in the western world is overweight. One in six is obese. It's true that we eat too much and don't exercise enough. But a small group of scientists have begun looking beyond the obvious because of a group that can't chew, let alone jog: infant obesity rose more than 70 per cent in just twenty years. You can't blame them for unhealthy lifestyles. The scientists suspect that, starting in the womb, man-made chemicals may be triggering changes to our metabolism that result in life-long weight gain.
PROGRAMMED TO BE FAT? tells the stories of three scientists whose unexpected findings led them to follow the research of a curious doctor in Scotland, baffled by her inability to lose weight. For three years she pored over existing research on environmental chemicals and finally published a key study in an alternative medicine journal. It linked endocrine-disrupting chemicals to the obesity epidemic. The scientists came across the paper while puzzling over their own research results. None of their studies were about fat, but they had two things in common - they were all researching endocrine-disrupting chemicals, and they all ended up with unusually heavy lab animals.
Endocrine disruptors are all around us - in plastic, in cans, in the water we drink, in the food we eat. They're not supposed to enter our bodies, but they do. If they're proven to cause weight gain, the implications for human health are profound.
Now, scientists are going beyond animal research to human population studies, testing the theory that fetal exposure to man-made chemicals is a key reason for our global obesity epidemic and making a strong argument for the adoption of the precautionary principle to regulate the introduction of new man-made chemicals.
'Very well made, informative and thought provoking...This theory should change the way we think about obesity, which is typically described as either a genetic problem or a result of individual behaviors. It could hopefully sway policy makers to take more serious action about ways in which environmental intervention can be used to prevent obesity and related diseases like diabetes.' Dr. Michael Goran, Director of the Childhood Obesity Research Center, Professor of Preventive Medicine, Physiology and Biophysics and Pediatrics, University of Southern California
'A first-rate documentary about a very important and complex issue facing us today...A compelling story...This is a highly technical issue but it is explained in a clear way for general audiences, conveying both the excitement of modern biomedical research as well as the importance of the implications.' Dr. R. Thomas Zoeller, Endocrinologist, Professor of Biology, University of Massachusetts-Amherst
'In exploring a relatively poorly understood but critically important dimension of human developmental plasticity, this film very effectively illustrates the scientific method in action. The filmmakers make a strong case that we should employ the precautionary principle in regulating endocrine disrupting substances.' Dr. Kathryn Hicks, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Memphis
'Very interesting and provocative...Will provide the general public with an accessible overview of topic and an outline of the latest science. Especially good was the coverage of epigenetics and the potential role in changes in metabolism that may underlie a propensity for weight gain.' Dr. Charles Burant, Professor of Metabolism and Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan
'Programmed to be Fat? offers a powerful examination of a new scientific explanation for why many of us are fat and can't ever seem to win the battle of the bulge. Careful, scientifically rigorous yet thoroughly understandable, it explores evidence that chemicals interfering with hormones disrupt genes that control our weight. Truly superb.' Dr. J.P. Myers, Founder, CEO, and Chief Scientist, Environmental Health Sciences
'Provocative...Deftly interweaves interviews, animation, and live-action to present an interesting concept. Highly recommended.' C. Cassady, Video Librarian
'Highly Recommended...Does an exemplary job of analyzing and explaining many potential contributors to our modern obesity crisis using scientific data, expert analysis, and scholarly research. Beyond obesity, this film sounds the alarm on environmental chemicals in general and the fact that so much is not yet known and that not enough is being done to study, understand, and protect ourselves. The depth and breadth of information in this documentary is fantastic, it is top-notch in every way!' Karen Coronado, George Fox University, Educational Media Reviews Online
'Startling...Interesting and important...It is not just weak-willed adults who are packing on the pounds: even newborn babies have been getting fatter, and even non-human animal species...Suitable for high school and for college courses in cultural anthropology, physical anthropology, medical anthropology, anthropology of food, anthropology of science and technology, and American studies, as well as general audiences.' Jack David Eller, Community College of Denver, Anthropology Reviews Database
'Raises disturbing but vital questions about whether our current procedures for testing the safety of chemicals are comprehensive enough (especially when new chemicals seem to be 'innocent until proven guilty')...Highly recommended.' The Midwest Book Review
'Programmed To Be Fat? provides a realistic and understandable scientific approach to some of the issues involved with the world's obesity epidemic.' George Allen Wistreich, East Los Angeles College, Science Books and Films
'Startling and disturbing...This thought-provoking video includes ample data for class discussion.' Ann Weber, Bellarmine College Preparatory, School Library Journal
'Preventing obesity, we are learning, is far more complex than 'calories in, calories out.'..[The filmmaker] transforms a potentially dry description of scientific research into an engaging--and disquieting--tale of discovery...Programmed to be Fat brings an important (and growing) body of evidence into the public eye, and provides yet another reason to closely scrutinize and carefully regulate all chemicals before they are released into our midst.' Alex Merrill, Canadian Women's Health Network
'The Ecologist first reported on the issue back in 2006 and has continued its coverage in recent months but with a new documentary, Programmed to be Fat? being screened...the topic may finally be gaining mainstream recognition.' Tom Levitt, Deputy Editor, Ecologist
'Being overweight is the result of various factors - diet, exercise, lifestyle choices, 'bad genes'...but Programmed to be Fat? brought to light the links between obesity and common chemicals in products we use every day.' Environmental News Network
'If the science is correct, the implications for human health are profound...Investigations like Programmed to be Fat? help to get the debate out in the open and one day this may well lead to more effective ways of tackling weight gain than the misery of trying to starve and punish ourselves for failing at something that may no longer be entirely within our control.' Neal's Yard Remedies Natural News
Citation
Main credits
Mohun, Bruce (film director)
Mohun, Bruce (screenwriter)
Ridout, Sue (film producer)
Slinger, Helen (film producer)
Slinger, Helen (screenwriter)
Darling, Sara (film producer)
Suzuki, David T. (narrator)
Other credits
Editor, Tim Wanlin; director of photography, John Collins.
Distributor subjects
Anthropology; Biochemistry; Biology; Canadian Studies; Endocrine Disruptors; Epidemiology; Environment; Food And Nutrition; Health; Life Science; Medicine; Obesity; Physiology; Scientific Method; Toxic ChemicalsKeywords
man-made chemicals, environmental chemicals, obesity, diet, exercise, infant obesity, unhealty lifestyles, metabolic changes, weight gain, Scottish doctor, endocrine-disrupting chemicals, endocrine disruptors, weight gain, human health, fetal exposure, global obesity epidemic, precautionary principle, obesogens, Juliette Legler, cellular studies, zebra fish, animal studies, epigenetics, Norway, Slovakia, Belgium, Netherlands, Dr. Merete Eggesbo, epidemiology, breast milk, dioxins, developmental damage, neurological damage, saturation, receptors, bisphenol A, Frederick vom Saal, BPA, hormones, low dose animal studies, health agencies, Paul Baillie-Hamilton, Jerry Heindel, chemical toxins, Bruce Blumberg, fetal origins, John Challis, underweight babies, overweight adults, obesity diabetes link, cancer, tributyltin, set point, plastic products, LD50, Retha Newbold, nicotine as endocrine-disrupting chemical, Alison Holloway, pthalates, DES, organophosphates, atrazine, DDT, lead, fructose, MSG, obelinks, bisphenol S, BPS, estrogenic chemicals, pregancy, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences,"Programmed To Be Fat?",Bullfrog Films
WEBVTT
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[sil.]
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What if this baby is already
irreversibly programmed
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to be a fat 40-year-old? What if something
is happening to our children prenatally,
00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:24.999
that is programming all of us to
be heavier than we should be?
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What if, over generations, we are actually
altering our species\' ability to stay slim,
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no matter how hard we try.
00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:39.999
Scientists studying obesity
have begun to suspect
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that there is something more at play here
than just calories in and calories out.
00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:49.999
There are chemical agents that we encounter
which can change our body response to calories.
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If you give low doses, you
do end up with fat mice.
00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:59.999
New evidence suggests
that what\'s making us fat
00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:04.999
is not just modern lifestyles
but also modern chemicals.
00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:13.000
[music]
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Other side.
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Three, two and let\'s go single.
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We\'re exercising and we\'re dieting
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with great determination. We even
joined support groups to lose weight.
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Thirty-nine. You\'re down two inches
in your waist. That\'s great.
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But still in the western world,
every second adult is overweight.
00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:49.999
One in six people is obese.
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Obesity rates have almost
doubled over the last 30 years
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and it\'s not just in
gluttonous North America.
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It\'s happening in every country
with a western lifestyle.
00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:09.999
By the year 2000,
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the world\'s obesity experts we\'re
puzzling over a startling trend.
00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:19.999
Newborn babies from 1950 on
were becoming fatter each year.
00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:24.999
It wasn\'t like they we\'re
eating too much junk food
00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:29.999
or not exercising enough. Even other animal
species living in proximity to humans
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have grown fatter.
00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:39.999
We just simply cannot
account for a 50% change
00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:44.999
in obesity rates based on just
energy intake and lack of exercise.
00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:49.999
What else was happening?
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By 1999, scientists working independently
on a variety of reproductive studies
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began stumbling upon the same surprising
side effect in their lab animals,
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fat.
00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:09.999
This would propel on to a new path
and the only footprints ahead
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belong to a woman in a small Scottish town.
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This is calendar on the
edge of the highlands.
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[music]
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Paula Baillie-Hamilton lives just outside
of town with her husband and four children.
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She is an Oxford-trained doctor
specializing in metabolism.
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In 1998, she began a unique
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and personal research project.
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After I gave birth to my second child, I couldn\'t lose weight and I
started to wear my husband\'s clothes and his jeans and things like
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that but when I tried different things, nothing
seemed to work. Come. (inaudible) come.
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Most people at this stage
would hit the gym.
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Baillie-Hamilton hit the books.
00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:09.999
I read an article one evening and it was about how
chemicals in the environment are affecting our wildlife
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at current levels and that these
chemicals act like fake female hormones.
00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:19.999
The article was about reproductive
problems, but Baillie-Hamilton wondered
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if there could be a link between these synthetic
chemicals and her inability to lose weight.
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I mean, to me, it was
staggering because there was I…
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a top academic, a medical doctor,
just got a PhD from Oxford University
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and I had never heard of these
chemicals in our environment
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and the fact that they cause hormonal
problem was just incredible.
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I rushed to my library and I
pulled out a big text book
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and looked it up and female hormones,
do they affect our bodyweight,
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can they cause weight gain and
obesity and there it was.
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So that was the beginning
of many years, three years
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of… of pretty intensive research.
00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:14.999
While Baillie-Hamilton combed through
scientific studies on environmental chemicals,
00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:19.999
searching for any mention of weight change,
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on the other side of the Atlantic, a researcher
in North Carolina studying a synthetic estrogen
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was approached by the people
who took care of her lab mice.
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They told me that we had to
rewrite our animal protocol
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because the mice were too big for the
cages that we had them housed in.
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Retha Newbold was studying reproductive changes
caused by an estrogen replacement drug called DES,
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but her hormone-primed mice had become fat.
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I wasn\'t paying attention
to body mass, body fat.
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I was only really focusing
on the reproductive tract
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but I knew at that point I had… I had
to deal with it. Around the same time,
00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:09.999
a California biologist who was
studying the effects on sea life
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of a marine pesticide called tributyltin.
00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:19.999
It was first used widely as an
antifouling agent in paints
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to prevent marine invertebrates from
growing on the bottom of ship holes(ph).
00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:29.999
Bruce Blumberg discovered that tributyltin
could trigger the growth of fat cells.
00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:34.999
That was in a Petri dish.
Then he moved on to frogs.
00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:39.999
We tested tributyltin on
frogs its sensitive times
00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:44.999
and development and we found out to our surprise
that the testes were converted into fat cells.
00:06:45.000 --> 00:06:49.999
The pesticide had somehow turned
00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:54.999
a part of the reproductive
system into fat cells.
00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:59.999
[music]
00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:04.999
Also, in the 1990s at the University of
Missouri, endocrinologists, Fred Vom Saal
00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:09.999
was studying a chemical called bisphenol A.
00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:14.999
So for BPA, does anybody know how the
number of 50 micrograms per kilogram
00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:19.999
per day was arrived at? Vom
Saal was a contentious figure
00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:24.999
in the world of industrial chemicals.
Industry toxicologists were skeptical
00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:29.999
that he could trigger reproductive problems
in lab mice with small doses of bisphenol A,
00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:34.999
doses that were thousands of times
smaller than what those toxicologists
00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:39.999
considered safe and then as a
side effect in one 1998 study,
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Vom Saal noticed that bisphenol A,
seemed to be making his mice fat.
00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:49.999
We treated pregnant females
00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:54.999
with a 2 microgram per kilogram dose
and when the animals got to puberty,
00:07:55.000 --> 00:07:59.999
the bisphenol A, animals
were significantly heavier
00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:04.999
than the animals that had not been treated.
00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:09.999
More fat lab animals, three
separate scientists,
00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:14.999
three separate studies, three
accidental findings of fat.
00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:19.999
On the surface, very odd, since they\'re
all studying different chemicals
00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:24.999
but the chemicals do have
one thing in common.
00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:29.999
All three can disrupt the system of glands
that release hormones into our blood stream.
00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:34.999
It\'s called the endocrine system and
it controls how we reproduce and grow.
00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:39.999
So manmade chemicals that upset this
system are called endocrine disruptors.
00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:44.999
These endocrine disruptors fool receptors
00:08:45.000 --> 00:08:49.999
into thinking they\'re natural hormones.
00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:54.999
The scientists with the fat lab animals were all
exploring links to cancers and reproductive problems.
00:08:55.000 --> 00:08:59.999
In Scotland, Paula Baillie-Hamilton
was looking for something else,
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weight gain.
00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:09.999
I had to kind of work out what chemicals were out
there, find academic papers that they were on,
00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:14.999
and then do research and
then I had to (inaudible)
00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:19.999
enough papers to actually find the kind of the
paper I wanted actually showed each chemical,
00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:24.999
that group of chemicals weight gain effect and
those were just fabulous… it was fabulous.
00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:29.999
She saw that researchers were concerned about weight
loss in their papers on environmental toxins.
00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:34.999
If they found weight gain, they often
wouldn\'t feature this in their conclusions.
00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:39.999
After all, weight loss
was a sign of toxicity.
00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:44.999
Weight gain was seen as a good thing.
Some studies even apologized for finding
00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:49.999
that the chemical that they
could have gave to the animals
00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:54.999
caused a weight gain effect because they
said we tried to get a weight loss effect,
00:09:55.000 --> 00:09:59.999
so some type of toxicity which the weight loss but we only got weight gain. So they
didn\'t really… they got the results, but they didn\'t understand what they were getting.
00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:04.999
It was like a eureka moment,
00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:09.999
every time I found a new group of chemicals that
caused weight gain effect either in humans, animals,
00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:14.999
it was just mind-blowing.
00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:19.999
[music]
00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:24.999
In 2002, Baillie-Hamilton published a review in the
magazine, Alternative and Complementary Medicine.
00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:29.999
It was called Chemical Toxins,
00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:34.999
A Hypothesis to Explain the
Global Obesity Epidemic
00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:39.999
and Baillie-Hamilton\'s amateur sleuthing was
about to get noticed by the professionals.
00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:44.999
Jerry Heindel was Retha
Newbold\'s boss at the
00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:49.999
US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
and he had already heard about her overweight mice.
00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:54.999
There was this huge by
90 days… or… or three
00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:59.999
or months they were two or three
times the weight of normal animals
00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:04.999
but I didn\'t really think too
much of it at that time.
00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:09.999
Article came out by
Baillie-Hamilton and she discussed
00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:14.999
the idea or she proposed
the idea that it was
00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:19.999
exposure to environmental chemicals
that actually was causing…
00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:24.999
uh… or playing a role in the obesity epidemic.
She proposed the chemical toxin hypothesis
00:11:25.000 --> 00:11:29.999
and we said, \"Oh, my goodness, that fits.\"
00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:34.999
Baillie-Hamilton was not
a research scientist
00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:39.999
and her review appeared in an alternative
medicine journal, a journal that receives
00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:44.999
little respect from mainstream
research scientists. Still,
00:11:45.000 --> 00:11:49.999
Retha Newbold was curious and began designing a study
to find out exactly how her mice were getting fat.
00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:54.999
Heindel referenced Baillie-Hamilton
in one of his articles.
00:11:55.000 --> 00:11:59.999
In California,
00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:04.999
Bruce Blumberg came across the reference,
read Baillie-Hamilton\'s review,
00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:09.999
and remembered his frogs with
the unusual fat deposits.
00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:14.999
Blumberg wondered if something is
reprogramming lab animals before birth,
00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:19.999
what\'s happening to humans? What we\'re going
to be talking about is the labor tool box
00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:24.999
as I like to call it. In the 21st
century, most couples are well
00:12:25.000 --> 00:12:29.999
aware of chemical threats
to a healthy pregnancy.
00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:34.999
I want to keep windows open and stay away from anything cleaners or gas
stations, you know, stay away from people who are smoking cigarettes.
00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:39.999
Well, I was trying to eat as
much vegetables as possible
00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:44.999
and wash them really well. So whatever
you feel is right for you, all right…
00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:49.999
Although they\'re probably
not familiar with the name,
00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:54.999
these women are referring to a new
area of research called fetal origins.
00:12:55.000 --> 00:12:59.999
The idea is that some adult human diseases can
actually get their start before birth in the fetus.
00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:04.999
Dr. John Challis is one of the world\'s
leading experts in fetal origins.
00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:09.999
We recognize that small changes
within the normal birth weight range
00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:14.999
can have enormous implications
as predisposing factors
00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:19.999
towards the development
of disease in later life.
00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:24.999
The theory says subtle effects on the
fetus that cause low birth weight
00:13:25.000 --> 00:13:29.999
can also lead to disease.
00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:34.999
The initial work, of course, was around cardiovascular
disease, heart disease and the recognition
00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:39.999
that low birth weight was associated with the recognition that
low birth weight was associated with increased blood pressure,
00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:44.999
increased incidence of stroke, increased incidence of death
from heart disease, and then an increased incidence of obesity,
00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:49.999
of type 2 diabetes. Any questions
about breathing at all?
00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:54.999
The fetal origins theory
suggests that underweight babies
00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:59.999
can result in overweight adults.
00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:04.999
[music]
00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:09.999
Through his early work, Bruce Blumberg was familiar with the fetal
origins theory and the effect chemicals can have on development.
00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:14.999
At about the time my wife
was pregnant in 1996,
00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:19.999
was when I started working
on endocrine disruptors
00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:24.999
so we we\'re very careful from that point
forward to eat as well as we could.
00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:29.999
My daughter, much of what she eats is organic.
We try to do the best job that we can.
00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:34.999
Of course, she can\'t eliminate exposure
to chemicals. They are everywhere.
00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:39.999
Blumberg had already stumbled
00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:44.999
upon the fat-inducing qualities
of a pesticide in frogs,
00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:49.999
now he wanted to see if he could
duplicate the results in an animal
00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:54.999
genetically closer to humans, the mouse.
00:14:55.000 --> 00:14:59.999
Blumberg\'s team fed pregnant
mice with small amounts
00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:04.999
of tributyltin and then he waited.
00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:09.999
If the mice produced fat offspring,
should we be worried for human babies?
00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:14.999
[music]
00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:19.999
At the bellybutton, okay 39.
You\'ve lost a lot inches.
00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:24.999
I was a chubby kid, a chubby teenager, chubby
adult, so I\'ve always been struggling with it.
00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:29.999
I\'ve always been on diets
from I was a teenager.
00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:34.999
I\'ve traditionally lost
may be 10 - 20 pounds
00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:39.999
but eventually it all comes back on again.
00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:44.999
Nobody wants to be fat. I\'ll get off now?
00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:49.999
And being fat can make us sick. The link
between obesity and diabetes is well known.
00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:54.999
What\'s new is the possible
link to chemicals.
00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:59.999
We don\'t know which chemicals
might cause obesity
00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:04.999
and which ones might only cause diabetes
and which ones might cause both
00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:09.999
because they\'re really
related in a lot of ways.
00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:14.999
Twenty years ago, there were some 30
million people worldwide with diabetes,
00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:19.999
now there are 250 million.
00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:24.999
Being fat can cause cancer as well.
00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:29.999
In the fattest country in the world, the
United States, 14% of cancers in men
00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:34.999
and 20% in women are estimated
to be caused by being too heavy.
00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:39.999
In the upper chest… But for most of us, the
first thing we think about is entire health
00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:44.999
but how we look in the mirror…
00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:49.999
There is tremendous
pressure against being fat.
00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:54.999
No one likes to look at themselves in the mirror with
blubber hanging everywhere and no kid wants to be fat.
00:16:55.000 --> 00:16:59.999
So they\'re becoming fat despite efforts to the
contrary and the question is, why is that?
00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:04.999
By 2003, Blumberg and a handful of
other scientists had begun to suspect
00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:09.999
that one culprit might be
endocrine disrupting chemicals.
00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:14.999
Blumberg had fed pregnant
mice with tributyltin.
00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:19.999
If the offspring were overweight,
he wondered if each fat cell
00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:24.999
would be fatter or if there
would be more fat cells.
00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:29.999
The number of fat cells in
everyone\'s body is programmed
00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:34.999
by the end of puberty. It can be changed
up but not down as far as we know.
00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:39.999
The number of fat cells we
have is called our set point.
00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:44.999
As an adult, you mostly gain
00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:49.999
or lose weight by increasing or
decreasing the fat stored in the cells.
00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:54.999
Before puberty, it is possible to
increase the number of fat cells
00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:59.999
with a bad diet and once you\'ve increased that number of
fat cells you\'ve changed the set point for fat cells,
00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:04.999
your body will maintain that.
And 11.5 on the left.
00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:09.999
So once you\'ve passed puberty, it seems as though
nothing can change the number of fat cells you have.
00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:14.999
We can make the cells smaller or larger
00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:19.999
but it looks like we
can\'t change the number.
00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:24.999
One endocrine disrupting chemical that may
be changing our set point is bisphenol A,
00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:29.999
also called BPA. It\'s a component
in many plastic products.
00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:34.999
The Canadian government along
with the European Union,
00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:39.999
has banned BPA from baby bottles
and Health Canada has declared
00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:44.999
it a toxic substance.
00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:49.999
But BPA is still found
in many household items.
00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:54.999
Throughout her eight months of pregnancy,
Laura Gamble has avoided foods and chemicals
00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:59.999
that might harm her baby so
she was shocked to learn
00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:04.999
that BPA is even in the lining of cans.
It is not something I was really aware.
00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:09.999
It\'s pretty scary especially if it\'s
things that you can\'t really avoid…
00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:14.999
Like the coating of store receipts.
Five hundred micrograms
00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:19.999
of bisphenol A is able to be
wiped off a person\'s hand
00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:24.999
after just holding a receipt.
00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:29.999
Although it lasts in the body for
six hours, at any given moment,
00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:34.999
there is a tiny amount of bisphenol A in the
blood stream of 90% of North Americans.
00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:39.999
It\'s the highest volume chemicals
00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:44.999
produced with these kind of
endocrine disrupting activities.
00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:49.999
In his initial studies, Vom
Saal gave mice a BPA dose
00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:54.999
equivalent to the amount a person
is likely to ingest in daily life,
00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:59.999
two micrograms per kilogram of weight
per day. Prior to these studies,
00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.999
the lowest dose was 50,000
micrograms per kilogram
00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:09.999
of weight per day. We\'re scaring the
heck out of the regulatory community
00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:14.999
because they use that 50,000
dose to set a safe dose
00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:19.999
way above what we were testing.
00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:24.999
Both Vom Saal and Blumberg are concerned
about what they see as a critical flaw
00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:29.999
in traditional toxicology.
Toxicologists are trained
00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:34.999
to take a chemical and you test it on animals at
some dose which would kill most of the animals.
00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:39.999
And then you lower the dose, and you look for a dose that
only kills half the animals that\'s the so-called LD50,
00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:44.999
the lethal dose 50, and you keep
reducing the dose more and more and more
00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:49.999
until you find a dose where you don\'t kill any of the animals
and perhaps we don\'t have any observable effect at all.
00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.999
To be extra safe, industry cuts this
strength again up to 1,000 times
00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:59.999
before marketing the chemical.
Their process works top-down.
00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.999
We came at this as endocrinologists,
00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:09.999
starting at the bottom and
working up to the dose
00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:14.999
that caused an effect and were
tens of thousands of times below
00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:19.999
where anybody in toxicology
had ever been before.
00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.999
But still, how could extremely
tiny amounts of a chemical
00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.999
trigger health problems like obesity and
diabetes when much larger amounts did not.
00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.999
This was like saying. \"If you\'re
given one drop of the poison
00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:39.999
it may kill you but if you\'re
given 10 drops, you\'ll be fine.\"
00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.999
It made no sense but it made
sense to Blumberg Vom Saal
00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.999
and other endocrinologists.
00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.999
A few molecules of formalin
in very, very low doses
00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.999
binding to it\'s receptor stimulates
the cell to make more of them
00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
and become more sensitive to the hormone.
As you increase the concentration,
00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
at some time you\'ll reach saturation where
you cannot elicit any more response
00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
because you\'ve used all the available
receptors. However, at roughly 50% saturation,
00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
genes that would make more
receptors are turned off
00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
and other genes that inhibit the response
are turned on. And without those response
00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
mediators, these docking sites,
the hormones can\'t do anything
00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.999
so the response goes away.
00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.999
So it seemed like tiny amounts of certain
chemicals could affect the endocrine system
00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.999
of lab animals when larger amounts did not.
00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.999
But the chemical industry wasn\'t buying it.
They commissioned their own studies
00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.999
but couldn\'t reproduce these adverse
effects in low dose experiments.
00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.999
These low dose animal studies
are very difficult to get right
00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.999
so health agencies weren\'t
sure who is to believe
00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.999
and since potentially toxic chemicals
can\'t be directly tested on humans,
00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.999
the agencies were stuck waiting
for human population studies
00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
that match chemicals in
the blood with disease.
00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
These studies can take many years. In
Scotland, although Baillie-Hamilton
00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.999
wasn\'t worrying about scientific
protocol, the same year her review
00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
of the scientific literature came out.
She had already authored two books,
00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.999
warning of the fattening effects of endocrine disrupting
chemicals. what I wanted to do was to put everything together
00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.999
in a well-researched, well-referenced book
00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.999
that the ordinary person
who is not an academic,
00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.999
uh… could actually read, understand,
and then try and help themselves.
00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
In her books, Baillie-Hamilton
advocated cleansing the body
00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
and home of many common chemicals. But she
was jumping way ahead of the science.
00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.999
It would be another year
before Vom Saal would
00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.999
add weight gain to his list of
the suspected effects of BPA.
00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:19.999
It wouldn\'t be until two years later
00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.999
in 2004, that Newbold got results
from her obesity of estrogen
00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:29.999
treated mice. By puberty
they were all overweight.
00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
All of the ones that I tested that did
cause the animals to be light at birth.
00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
Yeah, they all ended up being
obese but when I went back
00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
and I looked at animals that
were the same weight at birth
00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
and I could do that by varying my doses. So even
the animals that were the same weight at birth
00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
those turned out be heavier later on.
00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
And by 2005, Blumberg had
results from his animal study.
00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
The animals had more fat at birth and
they became fatter later in life.
00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
These are mice that have
access to normal exercise.
00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
They eat the same amount of the same types
of food as their unexposed relatives
00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
and these mice get 10% to
15% fatter at adulthood.
00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
Blumberg\'s study conclusions
were strong enough
00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
that he decided chemicals like tributyltin deserved
a name of their own and the name says it all,
00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
Obesogens.
00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
Until that point in time,
everyone knew, every doctor knew,
00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
my doctor certainly knew that you get fat by eating too much
and there is nothing else to it. What we showed with this
00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
work was that there are chemical agents that we encounter
which can change our body response to calories.
00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.999
But are tiny amounts of these obesogens
00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.999
really affecting entire human populations?
The only way to find out
00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.999
is to measure entire human populations. Those
studies involving hundreds of thousands
00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.999
of people worldwide are underway right now.
00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.999
In the meantime, lab scientists
are casting an ever-widening net
00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.999
looking for problem chemicals and
one researcher is tracking down
00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.999
the fattening qualities of a
very common natural substance.
00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:29.999
[music]
00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.999
Is it plausible that these
chemicals are causing obesity?
00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.999
Absolutely. Because it had
been shown unequivocally?
00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.999
No. Alison Holloway is
on her way to Montreal
00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.999
for a meeting of Canada\'s leading toxicologists.
They\'ll talk about how environmental chemicals
00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
introduced in the womb can
lead to disease in later life.
00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.999
Holloway is looking specifically at
endocrine disruptors and obesity,
00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.999
only the chemical she is
studying isn\'t synthetic.
00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.999
And I know a lot of people that I know who smoked
they said, you know, \"I didn\'t want to smoke
00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.999
while I was pregnant (inaudible) and I felt sick,\" and then
when the baby was born they were like back once again. So…
00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.999
Holloway\'s endocrine disrupting
chemical is nicotine.
00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.999
When I started working in this area which is around 2004, the
(inaudible) epidemiologic studies that suggested kids born
00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:29.999
to moms that smoked had an
increased risk of becoming obese.
00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.999
Even though it\'s common knowledge that smoking
during pregnancy leads to underweight newborns,
00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.999
the Fetal Origins Theory suggests that because
of the phenomenon of catch-up growth,
00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.999
those children might grow
up to be overweight.
00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.999
If maternal smoking is associated with reduced birth weight, then it should
also be associated with an increased risk of hypertension, diabetes,
00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.999
and obesity postnatally.
At McMaster\'s University,
00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:59.999
Holloway has been running tests on rats.
We use 1 milligram per kilogram bodyweight
00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.999
per day injections of nicotine.
So that yields levels of cotinine
00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:09.999
which is the major metabolite of nicotine in the serum
of the rat which is consistent with moderate smokers.
00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:14.999
We see heavier rats and it\'s
consistent among other labs
00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.999
that are using nicotine as well.
00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.999
We\'ve generated data that suggests
that nicotine acts directly
00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.999
on the beta cell that is the insulin
secreting cell in the pancreas.
00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.999
And that\'s disrupting the endocrine system.
If the obesogen hypothesis holds,
00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.999
it\'s possible nicotine is
among the culprit chemicals.
00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.999
There are about 20 chemicals
suspected of being obesogens.
00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:49.999
They can be in hundreds of everyday
products from electronics, casings,
00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:54.999
and dental glues to cleaners and
weed killers, from magazine covers
00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:59.999
and hair care products to
carpets and coffee pots.
00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.999
Hi, Tina. Hi, how are you? I\'m good. These
chemicals are being measured in the body fluids
00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:09.999
of volunteers and their children in
large study groups around the world.
00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.999
(inaudible) have you had any mercury,
silver, dental fillings replaced? No.
00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.999
Researchers then follow the health
of the participants over many years.
00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.999
This is the only safe way to
discover the effects on humans.
00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.999
Have you ever been exposed to cold products
from hot asphalt or tar roofing material? No.
00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:34.999
Two thousand women like Tina
Yakabuchi have volunteered
00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:39.999
for a Canadian study on environmental chemicals
and their possible effects on newborn children.
00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.999
Fresh oil-based paint? No.
00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:49.999
As much as I try in my normal life to not expose
myself to environmental toxins, I feel that
00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.999
there is still some exposure that have no control
of that I wanted to find out if I was exposed.
00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:59.999
[sil.]
00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.999
Right now, the study is only following
children to six months of age
00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:09.999
but the study\'s directors are hoping if it
can be extended to at least six years of age
00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.999
to measure the effect of
obesogens on their weight gain.
00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.999
And even bigger study of obesogens
has started across the Atlantic.
00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.999
[music]
00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.999
I didn\'t know anything about the obesity issue and the link
with chemicals when Dianna was born so that was four years ago.
00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.999
Juliette Legler is raising
two children in Appledoorn,
00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.999
an hour from Amsterdam.
00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.999
[music]
00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.999
Legler moved to the Netherlands
from Canada when she was 17
00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:54.999
and is now heading up OBELIX, a
study of the obesogen hypothesis
00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
spread across 7 institutions
in 4 countries.
00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
It was launched by the European
Union because they too were seeing
00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.999
a considerable increase in overweight
people in virtually every EU country.
00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.999
OBELIX will carry out not just
cellular studies and animal studies
00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.999
but also studies of four human populations
00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.999
and it will use the new
field of epigenetics
00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.999
to study the effects of
chemicals on human development.
00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:34.999
Epigenetics describes how identical
genes in different people
00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:39.999
can be expressed in different ways.
00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.999
Our DNA is not being mutated by these chemicals
but the way that DNA is being expressed,
00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.999
the proteins that are being
formed during development
00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:54.999
are changing due to exposure
to these chemicals.
00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:59.999
Chemicals may be instructing
specific genes especially
00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
during the rapid development happening in the womb
to express themselves in a slightly fatter way
00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:09.999
and that effect could carry on
generation after generation.
00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:14.999
Juliette Legler\'s team will
investigate that possibility
00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.999
using her own favorite model
organism, the zebra fish.
00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.999
I think they are an excellent
model for early life development.
00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.999
A lot of the genes that are involved
in differentiation of cells
00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:34.999
and organs during development are the
same between a human and the fish.
00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.999
If you expose a little fish
embryo very early in life,
00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
you can see changes in the way the fish
accumulates lipids from the yolk sac.
00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.999
In other words,
00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.999
you can make a fish fatter with chemicals.
00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
The four human populations involved in the
OBELIX study are in Slovakia, Belgium,
00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.999
the Netherlands, and Norway.
00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.999
Norwegians have long been known
for their healthy lifestyles
00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:14.999
but now 46% of Norwegians
adults are overweight.
00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.999
I remember very well the first
time I saw a really fat person
00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.999
that was when my father took me to New York and
we were going off in the Empire State Building
00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:29.999
and there was this huge person.
00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.999
I had never dreamt that a human
being could become that fat.
00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:39.999
But now you can see fat people everywhere.
00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.999
Merete Eggesbo is a
Norwegian epidemiologist
00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.999
and part of the OBELIX team. She is looking
at the effects of chemicals on human growth
00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.999
and development beyond birth.
Eggesbo is measuring
00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.999
the amount of environmental chemicals in breast
milk then watching for any abnormal growth
00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
in the children who received that milk.
00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
She is looking especially for dioxins
which are suspected obesogens.
00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
Dioxins are long living and are
carried in the fat of fish.
00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.999
Norwegians eat a lot of fish and
dioxins can end up in breast milk.
00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.999
While measuring dioxins you really need to…
00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.999
to have a lot of milk because they are in very, very low
concentrations so we ask the mother to turn in a milliliter of milk.
00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.999
[sil.]
00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.999
This is one of 170 freezers
filled with breast milk.
00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.999
Eggesbo is hoping to have 3,000
mother-child pairings in her study group.
00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.999
[sil.]
00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:54.999
One of the mother-child pairs in the study
00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:59.999
is Eggsbo\'s sister, (inaudible)
and her son Sondra.
00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.999
It doesn\'t really demand a lot of us. We just
have questionnaires that we have to answer.
00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.999
Sondra and other kids in the study
00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.999
will have their weight measured
until they\'re 12 years old.
00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.999
[music]
00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
Eggesbo herself has three children and
the youngest still lives at home.
00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.999
I learned about environmental chemicals
a year after she had been born.
00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.999
Now I think there are many things
I would have them differently.
00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:39.999
We have all these chemicals
in use in the EU,
00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.999
more than 100,000 chemicals and they are not
checked whether they do damage to the child,
00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.999
developmental damage, neuropsychological
damage, it\'s not tested.
00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.999
It\'s only to a certain
extent carcinogenic issues
00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
but not where they damage our children
and… and babies which amazes me.
00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
The results of the OBELIX project
will give Merete Eggesbo
00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
a much better idea of whether
Norwegians are growing fatter
00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.999
through no fault of their own.
I think we always
00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
had an oversimplified view on obesity. It looks
to me as if it\'s a much more complex issue
00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
than calories in and calories out. But
the experts are quick to point out
00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.999
that undoubtedly a big part of the
obesity problem is this society
00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.999
that eats too much and
doesn\'t exercise enough.
00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:39.999
Everybody, I think, will recognize the fact
00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.999
that diet and exercise are playing a role
in obesity and in developing diabetes.
00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.999
There is no doubt in my mind
that these are two key issues
00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:54.999
that hasn\'t changed. What has changed
00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:59.999
is that perhaps environmental chemicals
are playing a role in this also.
00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.999
They are playing a role that is
superimposed on top of diet and exercise.
00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.999
Now you lift the shoulder right,
right up to bra line. Eight…
00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.999
Yes, exercise and diet still matter,
00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.999
perhaps even more.
00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.999
Some studies show that the animals given both,
a high-fat diet and a low dose of an obesogen
00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.999
will get fatter and more
diabetic than animals on either
00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.999
just the high-fat diet or just
the obesogen. In other words,
00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:39.999
chemicals could multiply
the effects of a bad diet.
00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:44.999
A fundamental part of the role
of chemicals in impacting
00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.999
these diseases is that they\'re
still interacting with everything
00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
else in the person\'s lifestyle.
00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
And Blumberg suspects there may be other
ways chemicals affect us in adulthood
00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.999
as well as during development. Our
existing fat cells maybe programmed
00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.999
to fill up more than usual and
the chemicals could delay
00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
the feeling of fullness while eating.
00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
The control of appetite and satiety
in mammals is under hormonal control
00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:24.999
and it\'s certainly possible in principle that
a chemical could make us more or less hungry.
00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.999
After eight years of gradually accumulating
evidence on the existence of obesogens,
00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.999
Jerry Hiendel has invited the leading experts to North
Carolina for the first ever international meeting.
00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
Juliette Legler has flown in from the
Netherlands. Retha Newbold is here.
00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.999
Allison Holoway has arrived from Hamilton
00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:49.999
and Bruce Blumberg arrives
with a new concern.
00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
He thinks he has found another obesogen,
00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
one that\'s very widely used.
00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
[music]
00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.999
About 200 government and university
experts on diabetes, obesity,
00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.999
endocrinology and toxicology
have gathered in North Carolina.
00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.999
Their task, to focus obesogen research on
to the most urgently needed experiments.
00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
One undercurrent of concern here
00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
is about industries\' preferred
replacement for BPA.
00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
Because people want BPA-free products,
00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
they\'re using bisphenol S
as replacement for BPA
00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
and the problem is BPS and BPA
are both estrogenic chemicals
00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
and there is no reason to
think that bisphenol S
00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.999
is going to be a lot safer than BPA.
00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.999
And Blumberg is investigating yet another
00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.999
possible obesogen in common use.
00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.999
This chemical is used quite widely in food
packaging and in other industrial processes.
00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.999
We know that it makes stem cells and the fat cells,
we don\'t know the pathway through which it acts.
00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:19.999
But to avoid testing for the problems in
chemicals after they\'ve been marketed.
00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:24.999
Blumberg is helping develop
a certification process
00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.999
for new industrial chemicals.
00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:34.999
And science agencies are developing a
revolutionary new testing protocol using robots
00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:39.999
that can analyze thousands of
chemical reactions each day.
00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.999
New chemicals can be quickly tested
early on at a wide range of doses.
00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
So you and endocrine disrupting chemicals
00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
would never make it into
our everyday lives.
00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:59.999
But in the meantime, what are
the most important precautions?
00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.999
What we\'re telling you
is if you\'re pregnant
00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.999
to pay more attention to your
nutrition and chemical exposures
00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.999
so that the next generation will not go
through the same thing as this generation
00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:19.999
and then maybe we will be able
to stop the obesity epidemic.
00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:24.999
Hello. How are you? Tina
Yakubuchi from the Canadian
00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.999
study has had her baby.
00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.999
So she adds breast milk to the sample she provides
for a wide range of environmental chemicals.
00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:39.999
There are already 20 suspected obesogens.
00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.999
There may be more.
00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.999
The goal would be to measure 30 or 40,
50 chemicals that we know are in us
00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:54.999
and try to figure out which ones would
be associated with weight gain.
00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.999
But mom, the nose is wet. The nose is wet.
Well, that\'s sign of a healthy dog.
00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.999
Baillie-Hamilton has had two more children
since that postpartum chubby period
00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:09.999
that launched our investigation
into environmental chemicals.
00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:14.999
It could take ages for all the scientific studies
to show yes, definitely this causes that,
00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:19.999
that causes that and the other. But people what gonna
with these things now? AKT 2 is the one in liver and fat.
00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.999
Many scientists believe it is time to
apply the precautionary principle.
00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.999
The most extreme application
precautionary principle
00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:34.999
would be that all chemicals are guilty until
proven innocent. We actually do the opposite,
00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:39.999
which is there is a minimal testing
that\'s done, mostly toxicological testing
00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.999
and then chemicals are allowed in the
environment and they\'re allowed to stay until
00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:49.999
we prove beyond any reasonable doubt that they are
harmful. If we have to wait for human evidence,
00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:54.999
we have failed. What we\'re doing
00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:59.999
with these developmental exposures
is that we are programming people
00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:04.999
so that they will develop obesity
later on in life and that\'s something
00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:09.999
that\'s going to be passed
on to future generations.
00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:14.999
I think we have to really be concerned.
Our focus is on prevention.
00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:20.000
[music]
