toxins may cause diseases in later generations

Reason #489 to pay attention to the crap that's being put into our environment:

Toxic chemicals that poisoned your grandparents, or even great-grandparents, may also affect your health, U.S. researchers suggested Thursday.

A study in rats shows the effects of certain toxic chemicals were passed on for four generations of males.

The finding, published in the journal Science, suggests that toxins may play a role in inherited diseases now blamed on genetic mutations.

When these male offspring were mated with females that had not been exposed to the toxins, 90 percent of the new male offspring had similar problems. The effect held for a fourth generation.

Via MSNBC