"Babies born to normal-weight moms who had exhibited elevated blood-DDE levels (in the upper 25 percent of all participants) were twice as likely to grow rapidly during their first 6 months than were infants born to the least-exposed women (with DDE concentrations in the lowest
25 percent). By 14 months old, children whose exposures to DDE in the womb had been in the top 50 percent were four times as likely to be overweight ? as indicated by a high body-mass-index, or BMI, score ? when compared to children with lower exposures.In fact, a growing body of data has been indicating that some pollutants ? known colloquially as obesogens ? can trigger the body to put on the pounds. In animals, these pollutants will sometimes lead a mouse to become rotund despite eating no more and exercising no less than its lean cousins. Many obesogens ? including DDE ? have a hormonal alter ego. In the body, DDE can either turn on or block the activity of natural estrogens, female sex hormones. This pollutant also can block the activity of male sex hormones. Such properties lead scientists to describe this pesticide derivative as an endocrine disrupter."