2025 Webinar: Toxic Relationships: When Liver Meets Industrial Chemicals (ondemand)-Toxic Relationships

Video Transcription

Video Summary

In a detailed and illuminating webinar titled "Toxic Relationships When the Liver Meets Industrial Chemicals," experts from the field of hepatology discussed the often-overlooked impact of environmental toxicants on liver health. Chaired by Lily Dara, the program highlighted the lack of awareness in the hepatology community regarding the role of various pollutants, including volatile organic compounds, vinyl chloride, PFAS metals, and emerging contaminants like microplastics, on liver disease. Dr. Andres Duarte and Dr. Juliana Beyer delivered insightful presentations focusing on the effects these chemicals have on increasing the risk of fibrosis, cancer, and liver injury. Dr. Duarte shared compelling case studies of patients whose liver conditions correlated with their occupational exposures to industrial chemicals, emphasizing the need for greater awareness and more practical clinical guidelines. Dr. Beyer expanded on the exposome—encompassing all the environmental exposures over one's lifetime—and its potential to exacerbate liver diseases, discussing her research on safe-level exposures which still contribute to liver disease severity. She emphasized that current safe exposure guidelines may underestimate the effect of these chemicals on liver health, especially in individuals with pre-existing conditions like obesity or metabolic disorders. The webinar concluded with a robust discussion on the urgent need for multidisciplinary approaches involving toxicologists and hepatologists to refine diagnosis and treatment protocols, stressing the importance of longitudinal studies and enhanced public awareness. The session underscored an urgent call to action for integrating environmental health into routine liver patient assessments.

Keywords

toxic relationships

liver health

environmental toxicants

hepatology

volatile organic compounds

vinyl chloride

PFAS metals

microplastics

liver disease

exposome

multidisciplinary approaches