1. Estrogen from the Birth control pills are flooding into the water systems - they are not removed by our waste water sewage systems. (Dr. Karen Kidd, University of New Brunswick in conjunction with the Canadian Rivers Institute)
2. Over 100 million women use a hormonal contraceptive - either combination or single hormone products.
3. Estorgen ends up in the water systems. "Pollutants are metabolized in our bodies as estrogen. And it is the lifetime exposure to estrogens that has increased world cancer rates by 26% since 1980.... We live in a toxic soup of chemicals" according to Dr. Susan Love (cancer surgeon)
4. Hormonal pollutants can affect human health by increasing the rate of breast cancer and other endocrinological diseases. (Carnevali & Mardonna, 2003; Davis et al. 1998)
5. These are the effects of excess estrogen comtaminants found among various fish populations:
- lesions
- reproductive impairment and altered behavior
- feminaization of male fish
- depressed serum testosterone levels
- decreased egg and larval viability
- altered enxymatic activities
- decreased embryonic development and cellular damage
- damaged fish create a threat to the ecosystems by eliminating fish populations (specific) and eventual contamination of human beings via the food web dynamic. (Lascombe et al 2000; Davis et al. 1998)
6. High concentrations of estrogens in water ways are directly proportional to population sizes and degree of urbanization.
7. Brittany Kimball, Univ. of Washington, May 30, 2008 wrote that "public notification of this accumulation has been limited due to a lack of comprehension of the implications by the scientific comunity". So, who is responsible for squashing public notifications? Are the culprits the pharmaceutical companies who stand to lose billions of dollars of revenue as women discontinue using harmful birth control products? Is it the AMA? Will they ever acknowledge their complicity in having duped women into believing that the Pill is harmless when in fact it isn't. Where is the green movement or interest regarding our water ways when hormonal contraceptives are indicted as the pollutants?
8. The estrogen and progesterone compounds are not removed via the waste water treatment policies; nor are they removed with your kitchen sink drinking water filtering systems.
The real question becomes: Are human populations evidencing signs of contamination by excess estrogens? Hmmm, let's think whether there is an increasing feminization among male populations; increasing behavioral problems among both male and female populations; decreasing fertility rates; increasing fertility problems; increasing breast cancer rates (this used to be an old-lady disease but now younger and younger women are diagnosed with breast cancer); increasing incidence of PCOS and other endocrine problems; increasing diagnosis of low testosterone levels in men (requiring treatment with Viagra-like products); early age onset of puberty among girls; or early age onset of menopause among women?
Creeping evidence of all of the above is readily observed. Yes, it is true that younger girls are evidencing abnormally early breast development and early age onset of puberty. Yes, Viagra seems to be in great demand according to the TV ads. Yes, there are increasing fertility issues. As a NFP teacher, I see way more PCOS cases than in previous decades . Are these normal incidences which just show up as blips or are these abnormal blips becoming the norm due to over-exposed -to-estrogen populations?
Herman-Giddens concludes "it's virtually impossible to study since there is no place to find an unexposed population." Creepy! Is it time to protest what's in your drinking water? Just don't drink the tea they serve you at the rallies.
Thoughts & comments?
