By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
New york times
Published: June 27, 2009

Some of the first eerie signs of a potential health catastrophe came as bizarre deformities in water animals, often in their sexual organs.

Frogs, salamanders and other amphibians began to sprout extra legs. In heavily polluted Lake Apopka, one of the largest lakes in Florida, male alligators developed stunted genitals.

In the Potomac watershed near Washington, male smallmouth bass have rapidly transformed into “intersex fish” that display female characteristics. This was discovered only in 2003, but the latest survey found that more than 80 percent of the male smallmouth bass in the Potomac are producing eggs.

Now scientists are connecting the dots with evidence of increasing abnormalities among humans, particularly large increases in numbers of genital deformities among newborn boys. For example, up to 7 percent of boys are now born with undescended testicles, although this often self-corrects over time. And up to 1 percent of boys in the United States are now born with hypospadias, in which the urethra exits the penis improperly, such as at the base rather than the tip.

Apprehension is growing among many scientists that the cause of all this may be a class of chemicals called endocrine disruptors. They are very widely used in agriculture, industry and consumer products. Some also enter the water supply when estrogens in human urine — compounded when a woman is on the pill — pass through sewage systems and then through water treatment plants.

These endocrine disruptors have complex effects on the human body, particularly during fetal development of males.

“A lot of these compounds act as weak estrogen, so that’s why developing males — whether smallmouth bass or humans — tend to be more sensitive,” said Robert Lawrence, a professor of environmental health sciences at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “It’s scary, very scary.”

The scientific case is still far from proven, as chemical companies emphasize, and the uncertainties for humans are vast. But there is accumulating evidence that male sperm count is dropping and that genital abnormalities in newborn boys are increasing. Some studies show correlations between these abnormalities and mothers who have greater exposure to these chemicals during pregnancy, through everything from hair spray to the water they drink.

Endocrine disruptors also affect females. It is now well established that DES, a synthetic estrogen given to many pregnant women from the 1930s to the 1970s to prevent miscarriages, caused abnormalities in the children. They seemed fine at birth, but girls born to those women have been more likely to develop misshaped sexual organs and cancer.

There is also some evidence from both humans and monkeys that endometriosis, a gynecological disorder, is linked to exposure to endocrine disruptors. Researchers also suspect that the disruptors can cause early puberty in girls.

A rush of new research has also tied endocrine disruptors to obesity, insulin resistance and diabetes, in both animals and humans. For example, mice exposed in utero even to low doses of endocrine disruptors appear normal at first but develop excess abdominal body fat as adults.

Among some scientists, there is real apprehension at the new findings — nothing is more terrifying than reading The Journal of Pediatric Urology — but there hasn’t been much public notice or government action.

This month, the Endocrine Society, an organization of scientists specializing in this field, issued a landmark 50-page statement. It should be a wake-up call.

“We present the evidence that endocrine disruptors have effects on male and female reproduction, breast development and cancer, prostate cancer, neuroendocrinology, thyroid, metabolism and obesity, and cardiovascular endocrinology,” the society declared.

“The rise in the incidence in obesity,” it added, “matches the rise in the use and distribution of industrial chemicals that may be playing a role in generation of obesity.”

The Environmental Protection Agency is moving toward screening endocrine disrupting chemicals, but at a glacial pace. For now, these chemicals continue to be widely used in agricultural pesticides and industrial compounds. Everybody is exposed.

“We should be concerned,” said Dr. Ted Schettler of the Science and Environmental Health Network. “This can influence brain development, sperm counts or susceptibility to cancer, even where the animal at birth seems perfectly normal.”

The most notorious example of water pollution occurred in 1969, when the Cuyahoga River in Ohio caught fire and helped shock America into adopting the Clean Water Act. Since then, complacency has taken hold.

Those deformed frogs and intersex fish — not to mention the growing number of deformities in newborn boys — should jolt us once again.

If we accept what you say then we need to know how these chemicals get into our bodies and how to avoid same?

It's not what I say - I just c&p'd the article from the NYT. Tho obviously if I thought it was BS, I never would have started this thread, so yes, I agree with the article.

Our bodies regulate themselves by secreting tiny tiny quantities of potent chemical substances such as hormones, etc.  And because we evolved in an environment in which these chemicals never existed until very recently, we haven't any defense against external sources of this stuff. So I think it's only common sense that if these substances are screwing up the metabolisms of fish and frogs, they are also effecting us to some extent.

As I understand it, they're in the water we drink, the food we eat, and the containers that food comes in - so good luck in trying to avoid this crap.

[ Last edited by  Marsupial at 2-7-2009 15:31 ]

This is true.  The paint used to paint the hulls of some boats to help prevent barnacles has been connected with causing troubles with the sex of certain fish for some time. The massive number of synthesised chemicals we produce these days should leave us with little wonder that the fellow members of the animal world will be effected and of course ourselves.  It's idiotic to think that they wont.

Yes Professor Marsupial it appears they are all around us. I t looks like we can take some steps to avoid them.


http://articles.mercola.com/site ... s-surround-you.aspx

        Dr. Mercola's Comments:
I"ve written about the dangers of bisphenol A, PFOA and phthalates many times on this Web site. The dangers they present are the inevitable result of flooding our environment and your body with synthetic chemicals with unknown effects.

So many products contain endocrine disruptors that trying to avoid them may seem like a hopeless struggle. But, in fact, there are a number of practical techniques you can use to limit your exposure to these and other common toxins.

Avoiding Toxins in Your Food and Drinking Water

    * As much as possible, buy and eat organic produce and free-range, organic foods. At the very least, use free-range organic eggs.
    * Raw milk products are a key to staying healthy. They are best obtained locally, if possible.
    * Rather than eating conventional fish, which is often contaminated with PCBs and mercury, use a high-quality purified fish or cod liver oil, or eat fish that is wild-caught and lab tested.
    * Avoid artificial food additives of all kind, including artificial sweeteners and MSG.
    * Avoid processed foods -- remember that they"re processed with chemicals!
    * Have your tap water tested and, if contaminants are found, install an appropriate water filter on all your faucets (even those in your shower or bath).

Avoiding Toxins in Your Personal Care Products

    * Only use natural cleaning products in your home. Most health food stores will have these available, or you can search online for them. You can also try the PerfectClean line of cleaning tools. Due to their ultra-microfiber construction, you can use them with only water (so you eliminate the need for cleaning your home with chemicals) and they clean at a deeper level than any other product you could find out there.
    * Similarly, switch over to natural brands of toiletries such as shampoo, toothpaste, antiperspirants and cosmetics.
    * Have any metal fillings removed, as they"re a major source of mercury. Be sure to have this done by a qualified biological dentist.
    * Avoid using artificial air fresheners, dryer sheets, fabric softeners or other synthetic fragrances, as they can pollute the air you are breathing.
    * Throw your Teflon pans away.
    * Limit your use of drugs (prescription and over-the-counter) as much as possible. Drugs are chemicals too, and they will leave residues and accumulate in your body over time.

Wikipedia - "Routes of exposure"

Food is a major source of pollutant exposure. Diet is thought to account for up to 90% of a person's PCB and DDT body burden.[35] In a study of 32 different common food products from three grocery stores in Dallas, fish and other animal products were found to be contaminated with PBDE.[36] Since these compounds are fat soluble, it is likely they are accumulating from the environment in the fatty tissue of animals we eat. Some suspect fish consumption is a major source of many environmental contaminates. Indeed, both wild and farmed salmon from all over the world have been shown to contain a variety of man-made organic compounds.[37]

With the increase in household products containing pollutants and the decrease in the quality of building ventilation, indoor air has become a significant source of pollutant exposure.[38]

Residents living in homes with wood floors treated in the 1960s with PCB-based wood finish have a much higher body burden than the general population.[39] A study of indoor house dust and dryer lint of 16 homes found high levels of all 22 different PBDE congeners tested for in all samples.[40] Recent studies suggest that contaminated house dust, not food, may be the major source of PBDE in our bodies.[41][42] One study estimated that ingestion of house dust accounts for up to 82% of our PBDE body burden.[43]

Research conducted by the Environmental Working Group found that 19 out of 20 children tested had levels of PBDE in their blood 3.5 times higher than the amount in their mothers' blood.[44] It has been shown that contaminated housedust is a primary source of lead in young children's bodies.[45] It may be that babies and toddlers ingest more contaminated housedust than the adults they live with, and therefore have much higher levels of pollutants in their systems.

Most of that advice lies at the heart of the natural foods trend that is gaining ever more traction in the 1st world; but, as your guy says, that only minimizes exposure. A lot of those things are impractical or too time consuming for the real world. If you eat out much, you've already lost control of your diet - you think any restaurant cooks with distilled water? The buildings we work/live in certainly don't put any effort into using natural products. There are hotels in HK that I've stayed in where I wake up in the morning with a terrible headache from all the shit in the air. Etc., etc.

The best thing would be for these substances to be outlawed - but the producers have too much political clout for that to happen without a decades-long battle of the lobbyists. Meanwhile, industry pours billions of tons of tens of thousands of different chemicals into the environment every day. In some parts of South America, Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East, leaded gasoline is still in use! Then there is the immensely complicated question of the interaction of all these substances when present in the body.

This is an argument that's been raging since the 60's, and in all that time there's been NO movement whatsoever on the legislative side to regulate the vast majority of these chemicals. No government agency even tests for 99.9% of this stuff, so there doesn't even exist a full list of which chemicals are dangerous to human health - the scientists simply don't know.

I read an article recently describing all the industrial chemicals present in breast milk - again, no one knows exactly how these substances effect infant health.

The 1% stat for US boys born with hypospadias (urethra exiting from base of dick) was pretty shocking don't you think?

Another article in the NYT today states that the incidence of Type 1 diabetes is increasing in Europe at 4% per year and that environmental pollutants are suspected.

[ Last edited by  Marsupial at 1-7-2009 11:00 ]

we're doomed!!   However, I'm not losing sleep on this. It's a heavy subject and needs more time to digest.

Yeah - we're doomed alright ...

I read somewhere that the mains water flowing out of the taps in London has (on average) already passed through the bodies of 8 other people ... and is increasing ... a statistic that gets more meaningful when you also read that apparently substances like birth-control hormones are very hard to filter out of the water, so their concentrating in the water we drink is gradually increasing ...

Actually what we eat and drink does have such a huge impact on our bodies and our quality of life, we should be losing sleep over it ... but it's hard to know how to begin to fix the problem.  As Mars says, it's tough enough to address something that DOES have some political will behind it (global warming, overfishing, etc) the thought of turning the tide on chemicals and drugs is enough to make you depressed ...