Male Fish Sex Change Sparks Fertility Fears (EU)
Links to Articles on Premature Puberty
Male Fish Sex Change- http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1877000/1877162.stm Sunday, 17 March, 2002, 03:06 GMT Chemical could be flushed via sewage works into rivers
Chemicals blamed for changing the sex of male fish
could affect human fertility, according to scientists.
A five-year study by the Environment Agency to be
published later this month suggests that half the male
fish in lowland rivers are developing female
characteristics because of pollution.
Scientists blame the pollution
on a "potent" form of
oestrogen found in urine
from women using the
contraceptive pill, which may
be flushed through sewage
works and into rivers.
They fear the chemical could
contaminate drinking water -
one third of which is taken
from rivers.
The situation has been
revealed in a joint
investigation by BBC's Country File and the
Independent on Sunday newspaper.
But the water industry and the Environment Agency
strongly deny any threat to human health and say no
such chemicals have been found in drinking water.
'Exquisitely potent'
Sperm counts have been falling in Britain for the last 50
years.
The agency study, funded
by the government,
examined roach from 10
rivers over the past five
years and found "intersex"
males in all of them.
Just under half of the male
fish had developed eggs in
their testes or female
reproductive ducts.
One tenth were sterile and
another quarter were
producing damaged
sperm, which appeared to
be irreversible when put in
clean water.
Previous studies showed a wide range of industrial
chemicals were changing the sex of the fish.
But the latest research suggests that the main culprit is
a synthetic oestrogen called ethanol oestriadol, present
in the contraceptive pill.
Professor Charles Taylor, from Exeter University, who is
working on new technology for filtering water, warned
the chemicals are "so exquisitely potent" that even tiny
amounts, such as one part per billion, could feminise
the fish.
"Some of the concentrations which we are seeing
affecting fish are below the detection limit which is
presently in place for testing our drinking water.
"So we cannot be sure that some of the compounds,
albeit at very low concentrations, aren't getting into our
drinking water."
The scientist who carried out
the research, Dr Susan
Jobling, from Brunel
University, said the research
on fish should be taken as a
warning to humans.
She said: "The issue is not
just about fish. Everything
that we eat, put on our skin,
throw down the drain, ends
up in the sewage treatment
works and ultimately in the
river.
"So one could argue that we
are actually living in a sea of
oestrogen, a chemical
cocktail, and therefore I
think there are very real
reasons to be worried about
whether male reproductive
health could also be affected in the same way that fish
reproductive health is affected."
If that was the case, water companies would be forced
to invest hundreds of millions of pounds on new sewage
works. or or
River 'Pollution' Sparks Fertility FearsLinks to Articles on Chemical Sources of Premature Puberty and Endochrine Disruptions