The journalist Bob Weinhold reviewed the newest findings on melamine toxicity in a news article published in Environmental Health Perspectives (Weinhold 2013). In Weinhold’s article, Peter Turnbaugh, researcher at the Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences Center for Systems Biology comments on a study by Zheng et al. investigating the influence of gut bacteria on melamine toxicity that was previously covered by the Food Packaging Forum (FPF article). Turnbaugh states that the study by was a proof of principle that chemical toxicity cannot be investigated in a vacuum but that the particular microbial environment influences the final hazard. His statement was supported by Seppo Salminen from the University of Turku, Finland who refers to studies pointing to the more general microbial activation or inactivation of toxins, as well as pathogens and viruses on any mucosal surface.

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Environmental Health Perspectives

FPF report on melamine

Melamine’s toxicity linked to gut bacteria (FPF)

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