Unconventional oil and gas extraction and endocrine disruptors: Implications for human and animal health
On April 7th, 2016, Dr. Chris Kassotis discussed his recently published research demonstrating increased endocrine disrupting activity in surface and ground water near fracking wastewater spill sites, as well as nuclear receptor antagonism for 23 commonly used fracking chemicals. His studies have shown prenatal exposure to a mixture of those chemicals at likely environmentally relevant concentrations resulted in adverse health effects in both male and female C57 mice, including decreased sperm counts, modulated hormone levels, increased body weights, and more. Dr. Kassotis also discussed his recent work showing increased receptor antagonism downstream from a wastewater injection disposal site.
Listen to the mp3 recording | Download the slide presentation
Dr. Kassotis is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. He completed his PhD at the University of Missouri working with Susan Nagel to assess unconventional oil and gas operations as a novel source of endocrine disrupting chemicals in water, and the potential for adverse human and animal health outcomes from exposure. He is now working in Heather Stapleton's lab at Duke to assess the adipogenic activity of complex chemical mixtures present in indoor house dust as well as to develop new assays to isolate and characterize novel endocrine disruptors in complex mixtures.
This presentation was the first in a three-part series of teleconference calls on how chemicals associated with unconventional oil and gas development may be affecting endocrine function, reproduction and prenatal development.
