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http://eces.org/ec/pollution/hormonedisrupters.shtml#040301
Earth Crash
Documenting the Collapse of a Dying Planet
Pollution: Hormone Disrupters
(03/17/2002) Scientists suspect pollution by
an "exquisitely potent" synthetic form of estrogen used in
birth control pills is responsible for British government
findings that half of the male fish in the country's
lowland rivers have eggs developing in their testes or
other forms of intersex development. Half of all the male
fish in Britain's lowland rivers are changing sex as a
result of pollution, alarming new official research
suggests. The findings raise serious questions as to
whether the pollution is getting into drinking water and
affecting human fertility. The research - to be published
by Britain's Environment Agency - shows that male fish are
developing female characteristics in rivers all over the
country. In some stretches all the male fish have been
feminised.
Scientists conducting the research blame a particularly powerful form of oestrogen (estrogen) in urine from birth control pills, which is flushed through sewage treatment plants into the rivers. Some fear that the "exquisitely potent" chemical may be contaminating part of the one- third of all of the country's drinking water that is taken from rivers.
The water industry and the agency deny that the situation could damage health. But the Environment Agency said that it is taking the pollution "very seriously" and will unveil an action programme later this month. and environmentalists say the fertility of some men could be affected by years of drinking the water. Sperm counts have been falling dramatically in Britain over the past half- century. Peter Ainsworth, the shadow environment secretary, said: "Danger to human fertility cannot be ruled out" and called for an urgent programme of research on the threat.
The research, financed by the Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs and the official Natural Environment Research Council, examined roach fish from 10 rivers over the past five years. They found feminised "intersex" males in all of them - the rivers Lea in Hertfordshire (from which London takes much of its drinking water), Blackwater in Essex, Arun in West Sussex, Avon in Bristol, Rea in Shropshire, Wreake in Leicestershire, Nene in the East Midlands, Ouse in North Yorkshire and Aire and Calder in West Yorkshire.
The study found that, on average, just under 50 per cent of the male fish had developed eggs in their testes, and/or female reproductive ducts - a finding they believe is likely to be typical of roach and other species of fish all over the country. In stretches of the Aire and Nene all the male fish were affected in this way, and even in relatively unpolluted waters 7 to 8 per cent were affected.
The fish did not change back after being put into clean water, suggesting that the changes were permanent. About one tenth of the male fish were sterile, and about another quarter had damaged sperm.
The research suggests that the main culprit is ethanol oestradiol (estradiol), a synthetic oestrogen used in the contraceptive pill which scientists say can feminise fish at levels of as low as one part per billion. Conventional sewage treatment is ineffective at removing it from water.
Professor Charles Tyler of Exeter University, one of the leaders of the research, says ethanol estradiol is "so exquisitely potent that some of the very concentrations where we are seeing effects on fish are below the detection limit that is presently in place for testing our drinking water. So we cannot be sure that some of these compounds, albeit at very low concentrations, aren't getting into our drinking water".
Dr. Susan Jobling of Brunel University, who led the research, said the research on fish should be taken as a warning to humans. Said Jobling, "The issue is not just about fish. Everything that we eat, put on our skin, throw down the drain, ends up in the sewage treatment works and ultimately in the river. So one could argue that we are actually living in a sea of oestrogen, a chemical cocktail, and therefore I think there are very real reasons to be worried about whether male reproductive health could also be affected in the same way that fish reproductive health is affected."
"Unlike in fish, it is going to take 20 years to see if my children have been affected by developmental exposure to this same cocktail of chemicals," Jobling said. (Sources)
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