NOT TRYING TO START A DEBATE!!!! just got shared this from a friend who is also a fish lover as myself and wanted to share with other fellow fish lovers!
The Pill has done a lot for the world, and its benefits are widely known. Few are aware, however, that it also has helped to create an environmental catastrophe.
Check it:
Released into the main water supply through the urine of women taking oral birth control, ethynylestradiol (EE2), the maincomponent in oral contraceptives, has a profoundly negative impact on the mating behaviors of several species of amphibians and fish. The endocrine system regulates an organisms hormones, so endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) affect fertility, development, and immunity.
The synthetic estrogen found in lakes and rivers has caused reduced fertility and infertility in male fish. Scientists at the Battelle Marine Sciences Laboratory in Washington State exposed a group of rainbow trout to EE2-contaminated water, and after two months found that the male fish were half as fertile as males that were exposed to clean water. The New York Times reported in 2009 that estrogen levels in the water of the Shenendoah and Potomac were responsible for intersex (that is, dual-gendered) fish. Male fish were found carrying eggs in their testes. A 2006 study reported that over eighty percent of male bass were carrying eggs in the Shenandoah and Monocacy River. And such massive environmental disruptions are not limited to ethinylestradiol pills, though they are the most commonly used. In 2010, scientists treated an entire lake with low doses of Nothindrone, and it caused the Flathead Minnow to all but disappear through a lack of reproduction. It feminizes immature fish and shuts off reproduction in mature fish. According to a study published by Frauke Hoffman of the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, EE2 has been similarly found to lower sexual arousal in male African-clawed frogs.
And the effects are not merely sexual. Mall bass in the Virginia/Maryland area, which typically produce two proteins that protect them against bacteria, were only producing one, suggesting that artificial estrogens in the water makes them more susceptible to disease. Frauke Hoffmann of the Department of Ecophysiology and Aquaculture in Berlin, and Werner Kloas of the Department of Endocrinology in Berlin concluded from a study of African-clawed frogs that continued amphibian exposure to EE2 has the potential to contribute to the global problem of amphibian decline.
Dr. David Norris, physiologist at the University of Colorado, said it is not just the possible negative effects that estrogen is having on aquatic environments that concerns him as much as the exposure of these hormones to humans, especially fetuses and newborns. According to Norris, numerous reports show that estrogenic chemicals in water can result in thyroid problems and an adrenaline imbalance. Thyroid inhibitors are of major concern because they affect the nervous systems development and can cause permanent mental retardation.
The idea that OCs may have a significant environmental impact is often met with the criticism that OCs are only one of many sources of artificial estrogen pollution. The study Are Oral Contraceptives a Significant Contributor to the Estrogenicity of Drinking Water? is used to claim that OCs only contribute to 1% of total pollution.
Unfortunately, this study was shown to have drastically understated the potency of ethinylestradiol the artificial estrogen in oral contraceptives by approximately a twentieth of its actual strength. When Waldemar Grzybowski of the Institute of Oceanography of the University of Gdansk applied the approximated actual potency of ethinylestradiol to the studys population, she found that its share in the total estrogenicity exceeds 50%.
The authors of the original study admitted this flaw: It is worth noting that the original authors of the study admitted to this flaw if including all methods of potency determination (both in vitro and in vivo), one might estimate a somewhat higher potency for EE2 than we originally reported in our publication.
So while its certainly true that oral contraceptives are not the only source of artificial estrogen pollution, they cannot be ignored as having a negligible effect on the environment.
Synthetic estrogen from birth control is not the only source of EDCs contaminating the water; plastics and pesticides are also a major source. Currently, there are no regulations on the amount of synthetic estrogen that can be released into sewage systems. An eco-friendly birth control movement has begun to surge, which pushes more natural forms of birth control like biodegradable condoms, and generally discourages use of the Pill. We here at 1Flesh invite anyone using hormonal contraception to help save the Earth and ditch it for a more effective, side-effect-free, natural method of birth control.
Link to the original article: http://www.1flesh.org/argument_page/pill-harms-environment/
The Pill has done a lot for the world, and its benefits are widely known. Few are aware, however, that it also has helped to create an environmental catastrophe.
Check it:
Released into the main water supply through the urine of women taking oral birth control, ethynylestradiol (EE2), the maincomponent in oral contraceptives, has a profoundly negative impact on the mating behaviors of several species of amphibians and fish. The endocrine system regulates an organisms hormones, so endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) affect fertility, development, and immunity.
The synthetic estrogen found in lakes and rivers has caused reduced fertility and infertility in male fish. Scientists at the Battelle Marine Sciences Laboratory in Washington State exposed a group of rainbow trout to EE2-contaminated water, and after two months found that the male fish were half as fertile as males that were exposed to clean water. The New York Times reported in 2009 that estrogen levels in the water of the Shenendoah and Potomac were responsible for intersex (that is, dual-gendered) fish. Male fish were found carrying eggs in their testes. A 2006 study reported that over eighty percent of male bass were carrying eggs in the Shenandoah and Monocacy River. And such massive environmental disruptions are not limited to ethinylestradiol pills, though they are the most commonly used. In 2010, scientists treated an entire lake with low doses of Nothindrone, and it caused the Flathead Minnow to all but disappear through a lack of reproduction. It feminizes immature fish and shuts off reproduction in mature fish. According to a study published by Frauke Hoffman of the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, EE2 has been similarly found to lower sexual arousal in male African-clawed frogs.
And the effects are not merely sexual. Mall bass in the Virginia/Maryland area, which typically produce two proteins that protect them against bacteria, were only producing one, suggesting that artificial estrogens in the water makes them more susceptible to disease. Frauke Hoffmann of the Department of Ecophysiology and Aquaculture in Berlin, and Werner Kloas of the Department of Endocrinology in Berlin concluded from a study of African-clawed frogs that continued amphibian exposure to EE2 has the potential to contribute to the global problem of amphibian decline.
Dr. David Norris, physiologist at the University of Colorado, said it is not just the possible negative effects that estrogen is having on aquatic environments that concerns him as much as the exposure of these hormones to humans, especially fetuses and newborns. According to Norris, numerous reports show that estrogenic chemicals in water can result in thyroid problems and an adrenaline imbalance. Thyroid inhibitors are of major concern because they affect the nervous systems development and can cause permanent mental retardation.
The idea that OCs may have a significant environmental impact is often met with the criticism that OCs are only one of many sources of artificial estrogen pollution. The study Are Oral Contraceptives a Significant Contributor to the Estrogenicity of Drinking Water? is used to claim that OCs only contribute to 1% of total pollution.
Unfortunately, this study was shown to have drastically understated the potency of ethinylestradiol the artificial estrogen in oral contraceptives by approximately a twentieth of its actual strength. When Waldemar Grzybowski of the Institute of Oceanography of the University of Gdansk applied the approximated actual potency of ethinylestradiol to the studys population, she found that its share in the total estrogenicity exceeds 50%.
The authors of the original study admitted this flaw: It is worth noting that the original authors of the study admitted to this flaw if including all methods of potency determination (both in vitro and in vivo), one might estimate a somewhat higher potency for EE2 than we originally reported in our publication.
So while its certainly true that oral contraceptives are not the only source of artificial estrogen pollution, they cannot be ignored as having a negligible effect on the environment.
Synthetic estrogen from birth control is not the only source of EDCs contaminating the water; plastics and pesticides are also a major source. Currently, there are no regulations on the amount of synthetic estrogen that can be released into sewage systems. An eco-friendly birth control movement has begun to surge, which pushes more natural forms of birth control like biodegradable condoms, and generally discourages use of the Pill. We here at 1Flesh invite anyone using hormonal contraception to help save the Earth and ditch it for a more effective, side-effect-free, natural method of birth control.
Link to the original article: http://www.1flesh.org/argument_page/pill-harms-environment/
