> The toxicology of synthetic chemicals is compared to that of natural chemicals, which represent the vast bulk of the chemicals to which humans are exposed. Synthetic toxins such as dioxin are compared to natural chemicals, such as indole carbinol (in broccoli) and ethanol. Trade-offs between synthetic and natural pesticides are discussed. In high-dose tests, a high proportion of both natural and synthetic chemicals are carcinogens, mutagens, teratogens, and clastogens (30-50% for each group) Poisoning from plant toxins in the milk of foraging animals was quite common in previous centuries. Cow or goat milk and other ingested dairy products were contaminated by the natural toxins from plants that were eaten by foraging animals in nonindustrial, agricultural societies, because toxins that are absorbed through the animal's gut are often secreted in the milk. When cows and goats forage on lupine, their offspring may have teratogenic abnormalities, such as "crooked calf" syndrome caused by the anagyrine in lupine. Such significant amounts of these teratogens can be transferred to the animals' milk that drinking the milk during pregnancy is a teratogenic risk for humans: in one rural California family, a baby boy, a litter of puppies, and goat kids all had a "crooked" bone birth defect. Both the pregnant woman and the pregnant dog had been drinking milk obtained from the family goats, which had been foraging on lupine, the main forage in winter. Nature's chemicals and synthetic chemicals: Comparative toxicology (carcinogens/mutagens/teratogens/clastogens/dioxin) BRUCE N. AMES, MARGIE PROFET, AND Lois SWIRSKY GOLD Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 87 (1990) *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at: http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm