http://water.usgs.gov/wrri
"Estrogenic hormones and related synthetic steroid compounds, such as those used in contraceptive pills, have been shown to be present in the aquatic environment, mainly as a result of inefficient removal in waste-water-treatment plants. The concentrations of the compounds although very low (sub-ng to a few ng/L), are sufficient to induce estrogenic responses and alter the normal reproduction and development of wildlife organisms. Of estrogenic compounds, synthetic contraceptive steroids, such as 17a-ethinylestradiol (EE2), are found to be the most potent endocrine disruptor. It can cause feminization of male fish even at extremely low concentrations (e.g. 0.1 ng/L)."
5 comments:
Is the point that contraceptives are bad or that waste-water treatment plans need improvement?
I would love to know how this relates to female birth control and the potential dangerous side effects. I'm not sure how this correlates.
Yes, I would also like to know how this is related to human beings. After all, we don't live in an aquatic environment, we don't have gills, etc...Are these fliers suggesting human males will develop female characteristics due to women being on the pill or that women could develop male characterists (one wonders how, considering the pill contains estrogen, a predominantly female hormone)? These fliers were very confusing and did not seem to make a sound or coherent argument.
First, the drug that is affecting these fish is the run off from the waste excreted from the woman taking the drug, so it is a miniscule percentage of what she is in fact taking. If these chemicals at such low levels are having such a dramatic effect on the ecosystem and organisms, then what do you think it's doing to the system of one woman?
Second, the chemcicals that are excreted into the ecosystem, though minimal, are a large enough amount to have a significant effect on the human body, especially young children. Mothers pregnant with boys have already been warned in many areas, including our own, to not drink water straight from the tap because of the hormones! What are we doing to ourselves when we take these drugs is indescribable, but what we are doing to the world around us and to those that we love and care for is even more incomprehensible!
Okay, thanks for answering my question, and while that sounds farfetched (do you have proof of this?) What water can we drink? - It seems to me that everything is dirty.
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