Hormone Horrors

Hormones that mimic estrogen are turning up in many of the plastic items we use, and estrogenic herbicides are feminizing male animals and fish. Some male frogs now have female organs, and some male fish even produce eggs. In a Florida lake contaminated by these chemicals, male alligators have tiny penises. Let’s hope this doesn’t happen to us humans!

The problems that are associated with humans who are exposed to these chemicals include breast cancer, infertility, low sperm counts, genital deformities, early menstruation and even diabetes and obesity.

And they’re everywhere: In the thermal receipts that come out of gas pumps and ATMs, lining the cans that food comes in. They can be found in cosmetics and food packaging. When doctors test your blood or urine, they almost always find them, and they’ve been found in human breast milk as well as in the umbilical cord blood of newborn babies. They are silent killers that trigger hormonal changes that may not show up for decades.

The general public is unaware of the dangers, but scientists know them well. For instance, environmental health scientist John Peterson Myers has stopped buying canned food. In the May 3rd edition of the New York Times, Nicholas D. Kristof quotes him as saying, "We don’t microwave in plastic. We don’t use pesticides in our house. I refuse receipts whenever I can. My default request at the ATM., known to my bank, is ‘no receipt.’ I never ask for a receipt from a gas station."

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