PREFACE
BY JOHN MCLACHLAN, PH.D., head of the Center
for Bioenvironmental Research at Tulane/Xavier Universities in New Orleans,
LA, and one of the most well-known leaders in the field of hormone disruption.
He used to be one of the heads of the National Institute of Environmental
Health Sciences (NIEHS) and is a prominent scientist in the DES story.
He has spearheaded all the major symposiums on estrogen and the environment.
McLachlan was honored as Weatherhead Distinguished Professor in 1999,
named by Newsweek magazine in 1997 as one of the 100 people to watch in
America, and was the recipient of the Hero of the Year Award from the
Breast Cancer Fund in 2000.
One of the most compelling issues at this time is the interaction between us and the environment. While we have a significant impact on the globe, we exist within a complex set of signals that connect species on a monumental scale. Our place in this signaling system is only now starting to be understood.
One of the most potent of signals, which literally changes the way humans and animals develop, is the female sex hormone estrogen. Estrogens are associated with normal development of the reproductive system in embryos, not only in humans but also in all other animals such as lab mice, cats, dogs, and even birds and alligators. In addition to this powerful effect on the attainment of our reproductive capacity, estrogen is involved in the onset of puberty in girls, preparation of the uterus for the development of an embryo, bone and heart health in women, and even perception of pain. In a way not yet understood, estrogens are associated with breast cancer.
In 1979, while working as a scientist at the National Institutes of Health, I organized a meeting of researchers and health policy makers to explore whether or not chemicals introduced into the environment were acting like estrogens. Over the last two decades, the concept that environmental chemicals can mimic our own sex hormones has been firmly established. Literally hundreds of meeting and thousands of scientific reports have been devoted to understanding this important environmental fact that is central to our reproduction and development and, indeed, to those of most of the species on earth. Since hormones like estrogen are part of the body's major signaling networks, the endocrine system, chemicals that mimic or alter our hormones are known as endocrine-disrupting chemicals. It is of central importance to all of us that we know what these chemicals are, how they work, how we may be exposed to them, and what the effects might be on our health. While complex scientific issues are often difficult to understand, such understanding is necessary for us to make the right choices.
In Hormone Deception, Lindsey Berkson does a marvelous job of making complex environmental and health issues understandable. She writes and passion, wit, and understanding. Her book is one of those rare volumes that balances a need "to do something" with the available scientific information. Dr. Berkson brings the skills of an experienced writer to a topic of significant personal concern; her own experience with hormone deception is both well-documented and profound. I am proud, on the twentieth anniversary of the first meeting on estrogens in the environment, to be asked to write the preface of this timely and accessible treatment of the topic.
One of the most compelling issues at this time is the interaction between us and the environment. While we have a significant impact on the globe, we exist within a complex set of signals that connect species on a monumental scale. Our place in this signaling system is only now starting to be understood.
One of the most potent of signals, which literally changes the way humans and animals develop, is the female sex hormone estrogen. Estrogens are associated with normal development of the reproductive system in embryos, not only in humans but also in all other animals such as lab mice, cats, dogs, and even birds and alligators. In addition to this powerful effect on the attainment of our reproductive capacity, estrogen is involved in the onset of puberty in girls, preparation of the uterus for the development of an embryo, bone and heart health in women, and even perception of pain. In a way not yet understood, estrogens are associated with breast cancer.
In 1979, while working as a scientist at the National Institutes of Health, I organized a meeting of researchers and health policy makers to explore whether or not chemicals introduced into the environment were acting like estrogens. Over the last two decades, the concept that environmental chemicals can mimic our own sex hormones has been firmly established. Literally hundreds of meeting and thousands of scientific reports have been devoted to understanding this important environmental fact that is central to our reproduction and development and, indeed, to those of most of the species on earth. Since hormones like estrogen are part of the body's major signaling networks, the endocrine system, chemicals that mimic or alter our hormones are known as endocrine-disrupting chemicals. It is of central importance to all of us that we know what these chemicals are, how they work, how we may be exposed to them, and what the effects might be on our health. While complex scientific issues are often difficult to understand, such understanding is necessary for us to make the right choices.
In Hormone Deception, Lindsey Berkson does a marvelous job of making complex environmental and health issues understandable. She writes and passion, wit, and understanding. Her book is one of those rare volumes that balances a need "to do something" with the available scientific information. Dr. Berkson brings the skills of an experienced writer to a topic of significant personal concern; her own experience with hormone deception is both well-documented and profound. I am proud, on the twentieth anniversary of the first meeting on estrogens in the environment, to be asked to write the preface of this timely and accessible treatment of the topic.