Английский язык. Тысячи / IV (пять тысяч) / Пересказ
.docxUnhealthy Glow: Fluorescent Tadpoles Expose Chemical Contamination
Transgenic fish fry and larval frogs light up when exposed to hormone-disrupting compounds in water.
WatchFrog begins its first high-profile trial to test effluent from a hospital near Paris. Tests on living organisms—in vivo—are more revealing than traditional chemical analyses. The company’s innovation is to combine the best of two worlds: “in vivo testing at the scale of in vitro.” WatchFrog’s Xenopus tadpoles are small enough to fit in standard lab equipment. WatchFrog co-founder Barbara Demeneix turned this science into a toxicology test.
WatchFrog’s competitors are pushing ahead with analogous tests using fluorescing fish to detect estrogen disruptors. When transgenic fish encounter a chemical that prevents them from producing eggs or from changing sex, they light up. Co-founder and chief technology officer Xueping Chen of the Vitargent says the product is now in widespread use. “Our tests have been used extensively to measure the estrogenic activity of a wide range of consumer products,” she says.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is already using WatchFrog’s tadpole model. Another EPA program, Pathfinder, is helping WatchFrog automate its tests for on-site use.
As in France, so it goes in the United States. The tadpoles and fish fry are “little sentinel animals”. “If you see a signal, it means, gee we’d better take a second look here.”