Is lupus related to pollution or toxic chemicals?
We do not know. The cause of lupus, and many other autoimmune diseases, remains unknown. The respective roles of genetic and environmental factors in triggering lupus remain to be determined. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), the principal biomedical research agency of the United States Government established the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) to study issues related to environmental health. A meeting in September of 1998 at Research Triangle Institute (RTI) in Durham, NC organized by NIEHS, looked at autoimmunity and the environment and specifically lupus. A review of the discussion was published in the medical journal, Arthritis and Rheumatism (1998 Oct; 41(10): 1714-24) in an article titled: “Hormonal, Environmental, and Infectious Risk Factors for Developing Systemic Lupus Erythematosus” by Cooper GS, Dooley MA, Treadwell EL, St Clair EW, Parks CG, Gilkeson GS. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) website: http://www.ni
We do not know. The cause of lupus, and many other autoimmune diseases, remains unknown. The respective roles of genetic and environmental factors in triggering lupus remain to be determined. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), the principal biomedical research agency of the United States Government established the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) to study issues related to environmental health.
