Research on arsenic reveals a new mechanism of endocrine disruption and raises serious concerns about the potential impacts of very low level arsenic exposure on the ability of the human immune system to suppress tumor growth. Arsenic interferes with glucocorticoid's ability to turn on certain genes important to immune system function and to glucose metabolism. This new research hints at important new links between endocrine disruption and cancer as well as to diabetes. A Dutch study indicates that PCB and dioxin contamination experienced during breast feeding weakens exposed infants' immune systems, making them more vulnerable to common childhood diseases. A study of Inuit children in arctic Canada reveals a positive association between organochlorine exposure and the likelihood of inner ear infections in the first year of life.
Exposure occurs in the womb and via lactation.
The virus alone does not appear to raise the risk of non Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Together, however, elevated levels of PCBs and Epstein Barr virus increase the risk of non Hodgkin's Lymphoma by over 20-fold. Statement from the Work Session on Chemically-induced Alterations in the Developing Immune System. A multidisciplinary group of international experts gathered in February 1995 in Racine, Wisconsin, to evaluate current science on the immune system effects of chemical contaminants. Workshop participants .