Association between maternal per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance exposure and newborn telomere length: Effect modification by birth seasons

Correspondence on: Household use of crop residues and fuelwood for cooking and newborn birth size in rural Bangladesh by Leeet al

“…Several examples of unintended chemical exposures are well known such as the introduction of organochlorine insecticides in the 1950s and dichlorodiphenyl trichloroethane used for agricultural control of pests, which were later observed to be genotoxic, and having mutagenic effects, perturbing the hypothalamus–pituitary–thyroid axis, causing birth defects and other developmental abnormalities in offspring. Evidence from several epidemiologic and experimental studies clearly support that these chemicals are toxic and can modulate the endocrine signalling in humans, leading to pathophysiological dysfunction with risk of adverse birth outcomes, including abnormal newborn telomere length and other chronic diseases such as breast cancer, with potential to alter the epigenetic tagging, leading to trans and intergenerational effects 4–6…”