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Chemical
Toxicology Research
Dr. Zeliger’s research is
in the area of toxic and carcinogenic effects of
chemical mixtures on human health. His research has
helped explain the cause of "mysterious" illnesses such
as Gulf War Syndrome, Irradiated Mail Syndrome,
neurodevelopmental disorders and some cancer clusters.
Following are summaries of two of Dr. Zeliger’s
published papers.
TOXIC EFFECTS OF CHEMICAL MIXTURES. Archives of
Environmental Health 2003; Volume 58, No. 1, pages
23-29.
Human exposure to chemical mixtures produces three
unexpected effects. The first is an enhanced acute and
chronic response that results in greater than expected
health effects. Toxic mixtures containing at least one
lipophilic (fat soluble) and one hydrophilic (water
soluble) chemical have been shown to produce effects
that are as much as ten times more severe that those
predicted from the known toxicities of the individual
chemicals that comprise those mixtures. The second
unexpected effect is low-level response. Here, the
mixtures induce body reactions when exposures are to
concentrations of chemicals that individually are too
low to trigger symptoms. The third effect is unexpected
target organ attack with clinical responses appearing in
parts of the body not known to be sensitive to the
individual chemicals. Each chemical mixture acts as an
individual entity producing effects that often cannot be
predicted.
UNEXPLAINED CANCER CLUSTERS: COMMON THREADS.
Archives of Environmental Health 2004; Volume 59, No. 4,
pages 172-176.
A cancer cluster is an outbreak of a particular cancer,
or cancers, in a group of individuals in greater than
expected numbers following a common exposure by that
group to a causative agent. A number of identified
cancer clusters have followed exposures to mixtures of
chemicals. The causes for these cancers could not be
attributed to any of the individual chemicals in the
mixtures and up to now have remained unexplained. These
clusters, however have three common characteristics.
First, they all followed exposures to chemical mixtures
than contained at least one lipophilic (fat soluble) and
one hydrophilic (water soluble) component. Second, the
specific combinations of lipophiles and hydrophiles act
as individual entities and produce cancers not
associated with exposure to any of the individual
chemicals contained in the mixtures. Third, the cancers
that follow these exposures can be in the form of single
or multiple cancers per cluster.
This research sheds new light on the causes of childhood
leukemia outbreaks in Fallon, Nevada and Woburn,
Massachusetts as well as on other previously unexplained
cancer clusters. Several breast cancer clusters that are
being investigated also fit this model.
Dr. Zeliger is also the author of Human Toxicology of Chemical Mixtures
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