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. 2015 Jan 22;7(1):8.
doi: 10.1186/s13148-014-0043-3. eCollection 2015.

Globalization, climate change, and transgenerational epigenetic inheritance: will our descendants be at risk?

Carlos Guerrero-Bosagna  1 , Per Jensen  1
Affiliations

Globalization, climate change, and transgenerational epigenetic inheritance: will our descendants be at risk?

Carlos Guerrero-Bosagna et al. Clin Epigenetics. .

Abstract

Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance has gained increased attention due to the possibility that exposure to environmental contaminants induce diseases that propagate across generations through epigenomic alterations in gametes. In laboratory animals, exposure to environmental toxicants such as fungicides, pesticides, or plastic compounds has been shown to produce abnormal reproductive or metabolic phenotypes that are transgenerationally transmitted. Human exposures to environmental toxicants have increased due to industrialization and globalization, as well as the incidence of diseases shown to be transgenerationally transmitted in animal models. This new knowledge poses an urgent call to study transgenerational consequences of current human exposures to environmental toxicants.

Keywords: Environmental exposures; Food industry; Globalization; Industrialization; Non-infectious diseases; Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance.

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