How Environmental Pollutants Are Causing Reproductive Problems

[donsu]

http://www.alternet.org/stories/45684/



Across the U.S., female animals exposed to toxic chemicals are suffering from a flurry of health problems, from shrunken ovaries to spontaneous abortions. What does this mean for female humans?


In California, female sea lions are spontaneously aborting their fetuses.

In the Great Lakes area, mother gulls are sharing nests and raising eggs together because their male partners have forgotten how to parent.

In upstate New York, female frogs have as much testosterone in their bodies as males.

Scientists say these aberrations all share a common link: exposure to toxic chemicals called "endocrine disruptors," which pollute the air, soil and water.

"At the rate this pollution is going, we will likely have population decreases in many wildlife species, especially amphibians and fish that are more susceptible to toxins because their skin is constantly exposed to these chemicals in an aquatic environment," says Sarah Janssen, a science fellow at the New York-based Natural Resources Defense Council. "These animals serve as canaries in the coal mine for human females, teaching us how synthetic chemicals might affect our nervous system development, immune function, fertility and other health outcomes."

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In addition to harming female animals, endocrine disruptors can cause the "feminization" of males. In Arizona, these chemicals have shrunken the gonads of largemouth bass and common carp. In the Midwest, they have spurred male waterfowl to grow female organs. In Washington, D.C., they have caused male fish to produce eggs.

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The Hereditary Consequences of Environmental Pollutants

It starts in the first weeks of life.

As the umbilical cord sends nutrients to the fetus, pumping 300 quarts of blood per day, it also delivers what nature never intended: synthetic chemicals that may wreak havoc with development and cause health problems later in life.

-long snip with info that will make you tremble-
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it's happening

the article doesn't go into it but the pollutants are also affecting the brain

this woman says STOP

[NJCher]

1. lawn chemicals

This is heartbreaking. It is so hard to hear and read these stories about the destruction of our earth.

Years ago, when I first moved into this neighborhood, practically everyone had Chem-Lawn and other similar companies coming by to spray their lawns.

I did research into the chemicals used by the various companies. Then I scoured the I'net and my university databases for studies. I turned up numerous studies that showed problems with reproduction in humans. I photocopied the studies and sent them anonymously to everyone in the neighborhood who used the lawn chemical services.

It took about a year, but I noticed fewer and fewer visits from the Chem-Lawn people. Now there is not a single neighbor who uses those services.



Cher

[The2ndWheel]

2. None of which

will mean anything is going to stop voluntarily. Our entire way of life is about turning the natural into the artificial.