“Fantastic effort to bring together diverse subjects/people around the fetal programming issue.”
“The size of the conference was perfect and conducive to interaction.”
“The numerous opportunities to network and discuss with speakers and attendees were greatly appreciated.”
“This conference brought two separate fields together: threats from environmental chemicals and nutrition, both impacting early life development and disease risk in later life.”
The PPTOX III International Conference held May 14–16, 2012, in Paris, France, focused on “Environmental Stressors in the Developmental Origins of Disease: Evidence and Mechanisms.” Immediately above are some of the survey comments received from conference attendees regarding this third SOT Contemporary Concepts of Toxicology conference (CCT) on Prenatal Programming and Toxicity (PPTOX). The first PPTOX conference took place in Torshavn, Faroe Islands in 2007 and the second in Miami, Florida in 2009.
This May 2012 international conference focused on the role of environmental exposures and nutrients during development on subsequent diseases/dysfunctions in later life. The conference examined the animal and human data supporting this hypothesis (developmental basis of disease) by disease, organ system, and mechanism in order to review the current state of the literature and to identify mechanisms for the effects as well as to identify research gaps and challenges and integrate the basic and applied science.
Presentations and discussions addressed broad and diverse topics such as the following:
- New epidemiological and toxicological evidence for the contribution of developmental exposure to adult disease
- Predictive value of animal and alternative models
- Essential contribution of epigenetics to programming
- Effect of chemical or physical insults as well as nutritional imbalance on stems cells
- Long path from discovery to regulation
The Organizing Committee for PPTOX III included the following members
- Robert Barouki, Co-Chair (France)
- Peter Gluckman (New Zealand)
- Philippe Grandjean, Co-Chair (Denmark)
- Mark Hanson (United Kingdom)
- Jerrold Heindel (United States)
- Gérard Lasfargue (France)
This committee drafted a “consensus paper” on the current scientific insight in this field and the implications for future research and public health and sought the comments of conference attendees. Following a review of the comments, the organizing committee submitted this paper to the online journal, Environmental Health for publication. The June Issue of NIEHS Environmental Factors also includes an article on this conference, “Scientists explore developmental origins of disease.”