Monday, May 18, 2009

Nature vs Nurture

This past weekend, along with lots of conversations about the environment we live in both socioeconomically and physically, I was fortunate to engage in a great conversation about the role of our environment in cancer cases as well as genetics and wouldn't you know... I serendipitously came across this article in Nat Geo. From the article:

Breathing in polluted air may wreak havoc on our DNA, reprogramming genes in as few as three days and causing increased rates of cancer and other diseases.

So says a new study that tracked DNA damage in 63 steel-foundry workers in Brescia, Italy, who, under their normal factory conditions, were exposed to particulate matter.

The same damage may occur in city dwellers exposed to normal air, the researchers say.

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