Originally posted by Big Oil
This is me thanks to all chemicals that exist in the water system.

Originally posted by loam
reply to post by Big Oil

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Originally posted by Big Oil
This is me thanks to all chemicals that exist in the water system.

It's often easy to make jokes about topics like the subject of this thread...

But I think people fail to realize how this issue is not an in-the-test-tube-theoretical-supposition, but a very real crisis affecting the lives of many people.

I was shocked by statistics like the one that said 1 out of every 100 boys in the United States "is now born with hypospadias, in which the urethra exits the penis improperly, such as at the base rather than the tip."

Your example is further sobering evidence that this topic is far from funny, imo.

[edit on 19-9-2009 by loam]

Chemical Pollutants Linked to Fewer Female Births

High exposure to certain now-banned industrial chemicals may lead to fewer female births, a new study suggests.

The findings, reported in the journal Environmental Health, add to evidence that the two groups of related chemicals -- polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) -- may affect human reproduction.

PBBs were once widely used as flame retardants in plastics, electronic and textiles, while PCBs were used in everything from appliances and fluorescent lighting to insulation and insecticides.

While the chemicals were banned in the 1970s as potential health hazards, they remain a public-health concern because they linger in the environment and accumulate in the fat of fish, mammals and birds.

Atrazine has been linked to spontaneous abortions in humans [1]. Atrazine not only reduces sperm production in fish, amphibians, and laboratory rodents, but is associated with impaired fertility and low sperm counts in humans [2]. The induction of the mechanism for depleting testosterone and converting it into estrogen (increased expression of the enzyme aromatase) was, in fact, discovered originally in human cancer cells [3-6] and tissues, and has been characterized in great detail [7, 8]. Further, similar to atrazine’s induction of prostate cancer and mammary cancer in laboratory rodents, men exposed to atrazine in a Syngenta production facility in Louisiana developed prostate cancer at 8.4 times the rate of unexposed factory workers [9, 10] and women whose well water was contaminated with atrazine were more likely to develop breast cancer when compared to women who lived in the same area, but who do not drink well water [11]. Most significantly, the importance of atrazine’s induction of aromatase and its relationship with breast cancer and prostate cancer, is best appreciated when one considers that Novartis, the same company that made atrazine (an aromatase inducer) now markets the chemical, letrozole (an aromatase inhibitor) for the treatment of breast cancer and prostate cancer [12].

...

Atrazine has several detrimental effects on reproduction in laboratory rodents. At high doses, atrazine can inhibit the pituitary hormones necessary for ovulation, the release of eggs from the ovary [1]. Atrazine also causes pregnancy loss in some strains of laboratory rodents [2, 3]. This effect was likely due to loss in certain neurons in the brain that secrete hormones necessary for maintaining pregnancy [2-5]. In addition, Prolactin, a hormone that induces parental care in females and that is critical for suckling behavior is reduced by atrazine exposure [4-6].

What’s more, the female offspring born of mothers who are exposed to atrazine suffer from retarded mammary gland development [7, 8]. Female rat pups exposed prenatally (while in the womb) have significantly delayed and underdeveloped mammary glands (breast).

Even though they were only exposed in the womb, not after birth or as adults, these prenatally exposed animals do not recover as adults [8]. When these rats reproduce they are unable to suckle (feed) their young properly. As a result, the second generation (grandchildren of the originally exposed mothers) show low grow rates as a result of decreased nutrition.


Link

The causes of early puberty are complex and include genetics in addition to environmental factors. The rising rate of obesity likely is a driver. Other possible causes include premature birth, low birth weight and exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals in common products ranging from shampoo to household cleaners.