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ABNORMALITIES IN FISH, ANIMALS PROMPT STUDY OF CHEMICALS
Date: 26 Oct 2003
From: "Peter Montague" {Peter@rachel.org}
FEMALE FISH WITH FINS THAT LOOK LIKE MALE SEX ORGANS.
MALE ALLIGATORS WITH LOW TESTOSTERONE.
MALE FISH PRODUCING YOLK.
By Diane Rodgers, Special Projects Editor
St. Augustine Florida Record, Oct. 26, 2003
Scientists agree there are many more chemicals in our waterways than
are being tested. And the effects are virtually unknown.
For example, researchers have found masculinization of fish in Rice
Creek in Putnam County. Georgia-Pacific, which discharges wastewater
from the paper mill into the creek, may or may not be the contributing
factor, said Jim Maher, state Department of Environmental Protection
submerged lands and environmental resource permitting program
administrator. But female mosquito fish there have developed fins that
look like male sex organs.
Georgia-Pacific exposed mosquito fish to its effluent and couldn't
get the same result.
It also tested bass and mussels. It also found the fin thing happens
in other places.
It also tested fish to determine the effect of recent plant
improvements. The tests included monitoring fish hormones.
"We have seen less of an impact," said Myra Carpenter, environmental
supervisor for Georgia-Pacific. "The levels that we discharge were not
an issue."
Before its recent bleach plant and other improvements, Georgia-
Pacific tested some bass in tanks. It exposed bass to well water mixed
with 10-percent effluent, 40-percent effluent and 80-percent effluent.
Scientists saw some hormonal changes in the 40-percent and above
effluent. However, the bass could still develop healthy eggs and
reproduce, and there were no deformities or lesions.
And the effluent discharged into the creek makes up less than 1
percent of the water.
Researchers have also found similar occurrences near municipal
wastewater discharges, Maher said.
"We've got a lot of pharmaceuticals discharging into the river,"
Maher said.
Julie Parker, a St. Johns County resident who attended the river
summit in Jacksonville in January, said she's concerned about the
toxins in our rivers.
"They're not only giving us concern, they're changing our whole
reproductive systems," she said.
Louis Guillette, a University of Florida professor of zoology,
studied how the environment influences reproductive systems.
In 1985 and 1986, Guillette began researching some farm-raised
alligators that were having reproductive problems. About 50 percent of
gator embryos died before hatching. The usual survival rate is95
percent. And the gators who hatched had lots of problems.
The males' levels of testosterone had dropped to 1/2 to 1/3 of what
they should be. Scientists also found elevated levels of estrogen, a
female hormone. As a result, the male gators had smaller sex organs
and the females had hyper-elevated estrogen levels.
"That dramatic increase is due to environmental factors," Guillette
said.
Chemicals we use in our everyday lives act as hormones or
antihormones, he said.
For example DDT, widely used in the 1950s, was shown to be an
estrogen.
"Here's a pesticide that's estrogenic," Guillette said.
Everyone has DDT in their system, he said.
It's not used in the United States anymore.
"It's still used globally," he said.
Every fish sample has detectable levels of these compounds.
"We have a wide range of chemicals being released," he said.
And some of these chemicals are feminizing testes and overfeminizing
ovaries.
In England, male fish are starting to produce yolk, normally an
ability unique to females, downstream from a sewer treatment facility.
"We've now found the exact same thing in the Mississippi River,"
Guillette said.
And the phenomena has gone global, he said.
Also researchers are finding pharmaceutical estrogens - i.e. birth
control pills - in higher levels in water bodies near colleges during
prime college enrollment. The levels drop in the summer.
What's happening with pharmaceuticals is that humans can process them
and rid themselves of the waste. It's the job of the liver, which adds
a sugar group to such drugs, enabling us to urinate it out. The drug
is inactive with the sugar coating.
But, bacteria love that sugar coating.
So, when the drugs hit the rivers and streams via wastewater
treatment plants, the drugs become active again.
There's also heart medicine, cholesterol medicine, etc.
"What happens if children are exposed to this?" Guillette asked.
So far, limited testing has involved fish and alligators. The effects
to people are unknown.
And what if the river becomes our drinking water source?
At the river summit in Jacksonville in January, discussion began with
the water crisis, but soon turned to using the river for drinking
water, Parker said.
Until testing is expanded, Guillette recommends some short-term
advice.
Women and their daughters, who want children someday, shouldn't eat
freshwater fish. And the best treatment for drinking water is reverse
osmosis, he said.
For the long-term consequences?
"We don't know," Guillette said. "There are a huge number of things
we don't know what the consequences are."
Date: 26 Oct 2003
From: "Peter Montague" {Peter@rachel.org}
FEMALE FISH WITH FINS THAT LOOK LIKE MALE SEX ORGANS.
MALE ALLIGATORS WITH LOW TESTOSTERONE.
MALE FISH PRODUCING YOLK.
By Diane Rodgers, Special Projects Editor
St. Augustine Florida Record, Oct. 26, 2003
Scientists agree there are many more chemicals in our waterways than
are being tested. And the effects are virtually unknown.
For example, researchers have found masculinization of fish in Rice
Creek in Putnam County. Georgia-Pacific, which discharges wastewater
from the paper mill into the creek, may or may not be the contributing
factor, said Jim Maher, state Department of Environmental Protection
submerged lands and environmental resource permitting program
administrator. But female mosquito fish there have developed fins that
look like male sex organs.
Georgia-Pacific exposed mosquito fish to its effluent and couldn't
get the same result.
It also tested bass and mussels. It also found the fin thing happens
in other places.
It also tested fish to determine the effect of recent plant
improvements. The tests included monitoring fish hormones.
"We have seen less of an impact," said Myra Carpenter, environmental
supervisor for Georgia-Pacific. "The levels that we discharge were not
an issue."
Before its recent bleach plant and other improvements, Georgia-
Pacific tested some bass in tanks. It exposed bass to well water mixed
with 10-percent effluent, 40-percent effluent and 80-percent effluent.
Scientists saw some hormonal changes in the 40-percent and above
effluent. However, the bass could still develop healthy eggs and
reproduce, and there were no deformities or lesions.
And the effluent discharged into the creek makes up less than 1
percent of the water.
Researchers have also found similar occurrences near municipal
wastewater discharges, Maher said.
"We've got a lot of pharmaceuticals discharging into the river,"
Maher said.
Julie Parker, a St. Johns County resident who attended the river
summit in Jacksonville in January, said she's concerned about the
toxins in our rivers.
"They're not only giving us concern, they're changing our whole
reproductive systems," she said.
Louis Guillette, a University of Florida professor of zoology,
studied how the environment influences reproductive systems.
In 1985 and 1986, Guillette began researching some farm-raised
alligators that were having reproductive problems. About 50 percent of
gator embryos died before hatching. The usual survival rate is95
percent. And the gators who hatched had lots of problems.
The males' levels of testosterone had dropped to 1/2 to 1/3 of what
they should be. Scientists also found elevated levels of estrogen, a
female hormone. As a result, the male gators had smaller sex organs
and the females had hyper-elevated estrogen levels.
"That dramatic increase is due to environmental factors," Guillette
said.
Chemicals we use in our everyday lives act as hormones or
antihormones, he said.
For example DDT, widely used in the 1950s, was shown to be an
estrogen.
"Here's a pesticide that's estrogenic," Guillette said.
Everyone has DDT in their system, he said.
It's not used in the United States anymore.
"It's still used globally," he said.
Every fish sample has detectable levels of these compounds.
"We have a wide range of chemicals being released," he said.
And some of these chemicals are feminizing testes and overfeminizing
ovaries.
In England, male fish are starting to produce yolk, normally an
ability unique to females, downstream from a sewer treatment facility.
"We've now found the exact same thing in the Mississippi River,"
Guillette said.
And the phenomena has gone global, he said.
Also researchers are finding pharmaceutical estrogens - i.e. birth
control pills - in higher levels in water bodies near colleges during
prime college enrollment. The levels drop in the summer.
What's happening with pharmaceuticals is that humans can process them
and rid themselves of the waste. It's the job of the liver, which adds
a sugar group to such drugs, enabling us to urinate it out. The drug
is inactive with the sugar coating.
But, bacteria love that sugar coating.
So, when the drugs hit the rivers and streams via wastewater
treatment plants, the drugs become active again.
There's also heart medicine, cholesterol medicine, etc.
"What happens if children are exposed to this?" Guillette asked.
So far, limited testing has involved fish and alligators. The effects
to people are unknown.
And what if the river becomes our drinking water source?
At the river summit in Jacksonville in January, discussion began with
the water crisis, but soon turned to using the river for drinking
water, Parker said.
Until testing is expanded, Guillette recommends some short-term
advice.
Women and their daughters, who want children someday, shouldn't eat
freshwater fish. And the best treatment for drinking water is reverse
osmosis, he said.
For the long-term consequences?
"We don't know," Guillette said. "There are a huge number of things
we don't know what the consequences are."