TOXICANT-DISEASE-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTIONS ASSOCIATED WITH SUPPRESSION OF IMMUNE-SYSTEM, GROWTH, AND REPRODUCTION

The effects of marginal malnourishment, infections and environmental chemicals on growth and reproductive success in Swiss-Webster white mice and wild deer mice were studied with fractional factorial designs. Interaction effects were discovered. Malnourished mice were more sensitive to virus exposure and environmental chemicals (a plant growth regulator or polychlorinated biphenyls). Since several commercial plant growth regulators also appeared to suppress the immune system, these results cast doubt on the adequacy of current toxicity testing procedures in which factors were studied individually and not in combination.