Subscribe to Common Dreams News Updates
Most Popular This Week
Popular content
Today's Top News
'Toxic Stew' of Chemicals Causing Male Fish to Carry Eggs in Testes
Intersex fish, found across the US, result from a mix of drugs that mimic natural hormones, say scientists
More than 80% of the male bass fish in Washington's major river are now exhibiting female traits such as egg production because of a "toxic stew" of pollutants, scientists and campaigners reported yesterday.
US male bass fish are showing female traits such as egg production because of 'toxic stew' of chemicals in water. (Photograph: Rob Heimplaetzer/Potomac Conservancy) Intersex fish probably result from drugs, such as the contraceptive pill, and other chemicals being flushed into the water and have been found right across the US.
The Potomac Conservancy, which focuses on Washington DC's river, called for new research to determine what was causing male smallmouth bass to carry immature eggs in their testes. "We have not been able to identify one particular chemical or one particular source," said Vicki Blazer, a fish biologist with the US geological survey. "We are still trying to get a handle on what chemicals are important."
But she said early evidence pointed to a mix of chemicals - commonly used at home as well as those used in large-scale farming operations - causing the deformities. The suspect chemicals mimic natural hormones and disrupt the endocrine system, with young fish being particularly susceptible.
The chemicals could include birth control pills and other drugs, toiletries especially those with fragrances, products such as tissues treated with antibacterial agents, or goods treated with flame retardants that find their way into waste water. However, Blazer also pointed to runoff from fertilisers and pesticides from agricultural areas.
About 5 million people live in the greater Washington area, and 90% of them get their drinking water from the Potomac.
There is evidence that the anomaly is not confined to the Potomac, one of the largest rivers on America's Atlantic coast.
A report last year by the US geological survey found intersex fish in a third of 111 sites tested around the country. Of the 16 fish species studied, the condition was most common in smallmouth and largemouth bass and among males, although researchers also discovered the occasional female fish with male characteristics. The researchers studied sites along some of America's greatest rivers from the Mississippi to the Rio Grande.
"We need to get these toxins out of our river water," said Hedrick Belin, the president of the Potomac Conservancy. The campaign group called for $3m (£1.9m) in research over three years on endocrine disrupters on their effects on fish. It also called on the authorities to involve pharmaceutical companies in the safe disposal of drugs, and to invest in technology that can filter out endocrine disrupting compounds.
31 Comments so far
Show AllAre those bass? Don't look like 'em to me. Not large- or small mouth anyway. I wonder how you sex fish like bass. Males and females look alike, don't they?
If males are producing eggs, how do you know they are males in the first place? Chromosomal analysis?
So, if certain hormones feminize fish, will other substances convert them back to males? Perhaps that would not be advisable, since males would have the tendency to laze around on the bottom and enjoy the view of female undersides all day long. Not a sensible strategy for long-term species survival.
They look a bit like Striped Bass maybe - add them to the long list of species affected by the hormones in our wastewater.
I'd be interested to see someone study the effect these chemicals have when consistently ingested by humans. If these compounds, designed for human use - still have a strong effect on males in species as different from us as fish and amphibians - it seems likely they have an equally strong effect on human males. One more reason I need to start drinking distilled water.
what time is it when your water supply is saturated with endocrine disruptors?
time to go shopping!
sorry, I just really don't know what to say...
certainly, these things can't be surprises...without real change in our daily life, this is guaranteed to continue, and worsen...
anyone willing to rethink industrialization? private property? money?
Global Start Date: September 22, 2012...
can we stop, clean up the place, and grow things? together?
I love that we know pretty much which chemicals are causing the problems (birth control pill flushed into the river, toiletries with fragrances, and fertilizers and pesticides in run-off from big farms), but rather than do anything about what we already know the apparent solution is three years of research on endocrine disrupters....
I hope that, by the time the three years is up, everyone's dead from drinking this poisoned water and the fish have mutated into the dominant species on the planet and implemented a functional democracy across what used to be the USA. In this new land of democracy governed by she-male fish, it won't be necessary to do research for three years in order to come to common sense conclusions.
And there will be an abundance of caviar.
Maybe cars will even run on caviar.
DH....Excellent reflection!
"I hope that, by the time the three years is up, everyone's dead from drinking this poisoned water . . ."
It will take more than 3 years, but we are on our way.
http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/pharmawater_site/day1_01.html
An emasculated planet is a more docile and tractable planet.
A relative recently died at home after a period of hospice care attended by both family and visiting nurses. After the death, the nurse was instructed by her administrators to dump all of the patient's medications into the toilet. The reason is that some of them were controlled substances. You would not believe how much unused medicine was in the house of this elderly relative who spent a lot of time with doctors - hundreds or thousands of pills.
I convinced the nurse to crush the pills up and put them in the garbage. Not perfect, but better than dumping them into the water supply. The nurse had never thought of the cumulative effect of disposing all the pharmaceuticals we use into the sewers, rivers and oceans. Excrement is dirty, but at least we know it breaks down. The chemicals in medications, half-life not known, not monitored.
What we do know already is a reason to go to organic farming and fewer chemical responses to every darn thing. I think nurses should lobby for better disposal methods for medications.
Joe
It is quite intriguing that the masculine/feminine imbalance is attempting to self regulate - even through our own destructive ways......
We are always in the 'loop'. Everything 'outer' is a reflection of inner realities. There are no disconnections.
"There are no disconnections." very beautiful.
Thank you, sirios333
rita
You've been drinking that river water, haven't you?
Actually, i've been smoking it! ;-)
Mother Nature has been self correcting for billions of years - She wouldn't have survived otherwise. If you persist in polluting and degrading Her, She will gently but firmly correct the problem ......... What goes around comes around, as they say.
Unfortunately, other innocent species often get caught up in the correction process.
No,No commenters, you have it all wrong. The Mormons were right. The males in the natural world are now exhibiting female characteristic because of gay marriage. Really, it's true. God spoke to me this morning, just after i drank a cup of coffee made with recycled toilet water.
:) Thanks for the chuckle sirios333.
Joe
We have known that these chemicals disrupt endocrine systems for decades. We always do more research and wait. And there are always researchers, highly paid by chemical companies, who 'doubt the validity' of less biased research. What are these chemicals doing to my grand children? To yours? And our legislators, both state and federal, are far too busy deciding such earth shattering dilemmas as gay marriage and the next election, to pay attention to these lesser matters. How long will we as a people put up with this? Just as long as our MSM deliver fight and f*** shows to the living rooms of 49% of all voters....... Kill your television. Don't buy plastic. Eat locally. Join your food coop. Campaign against all Democrats and Republicans. Stop buying trash cosmetics, soaps, etc. [Use Dr Bronner's or its equivalent]. Convince your neighbors to do the same [which, of course, may get your ass kicked ...].
MichaelC,
I have to say I burst in to almost uncrontrollable laughter to read where a US fish biologist says how mystified "they" are about Intersex fish, as to what "stew" of toxic chemicals could possibly be causing these male fish to be exhibiting female reproductive behaviour.
Says Vicki Blazer, a fish biologist with the US geological survey. "We have not been able to identify one particular chemical or one particular source,"
"We are still trying to get a handle on what chemicals are important."Obviously drugs that mimic natural hormones, say scientists.
All I have to say to this is how thick are all these biologists and scientists.
On second thoughts, it may be more pertinent to ask who pays these "mystified" experts?
If they are picking up their salaries per the US taxpayers, we would have to suggest that these "experts" have not yet learned to open their PCs when they need information.
We, the public have known for many years about the pollution of our waterways through hormone disrupting chemicals.
I can only conclude that Biologist Vicki and her collegues must be picking up their salaries elsewhere than the US taxpayer.
Could their "research" just by chance, be funded by a pharmaceutical company, or other business connected to the producers of these nasty chemicals?
Maybe they are funded directly or indirectly by the companies who allow these chemicals to escape and pollute out waterways?
There has to be a reason that biologist,Vickie and her research collegues are unable to find the likely information through opening their PCs and typing the question in to Google.
If Vickie is truly interested in finding out the cause of the Inter-sex fish, I would be happy to 'point her in the right direction!'
MichaelC, you have 'hit the nail on the head completely.
For those of us who are as mystified as Vickie about which chemicals are hormone disruptors, and how these toxic poisons manage to "escape" into our waterways, I am suugesting they follow MichaelC's advice.
MichaelC says "How long will we as a people put up with this? Just as long as our MSM deliver fight and f*** shows to the living rooms of 49% of all voters....... Kill your television. Don't buy plastic. Eat locally. Join your food coop. Campaign against all Democrats and Republicans. Stop buying trash cosmetics, soaps, etc. [Use Dr Bronner's or its equivalent]. Convince your neighbors to do the same [which, of course, may get your ass kicked ...].
Well said Michael.
I have noticed that these kinds of stories about endocrine disruptors altering sex characteristics are either largely dismissed or joked-about in threads around here. I guess it's easy to joke, especially if you think you're immune from all these chemicals.
As a transsexual woman, I find it much less funny, especially because according to the "authorities" that regulate transsexual treatment (The American Psychological Association, in particular), gender identity issues are considered a form of mental pathology. There has been complete denial in the medical establishment regarding the obvious human corrolaries to sex-reversed fish. Many people think sex-reversal in humans is a theoretical, but unproven possibility.
The reality is that nobody has bothered looking. But the evidence that exists is suggestive of similar outcomes in humans. For example, the First Nations community of Sarnia, Ontario, has experienced a wildly imbalanced sex ratio among newborns, with 2005 data showing that only 35% of newborn babies are male, instead of the expected ~50%. Several related articles including the above study are available here: http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/realfiles/docs/2005/113-10/toc.html.
I have been writing about this topic for years, and now have a blog I just started (http://fearofapinkplanet.blogspot.com) that has links to my earlier papers on the same topic.
One of the most common misconceptions I see expressed is the idea that adult humans are susceptible to sex changes from endocrine disruptors. In general, it is the fetus undergoing sexual development (mainly second and third trimester) who are most at risk. Since this is when all the neurological and physiological pathways get set down, chemical alteration during these critial developmental timeframes can be profound.
But it saddens me that trans people are so often the butt of stupid jokes and prejudice, frequently encounter monstrous brutality, and that the obvious relationship between sex hormones and changes in gender identity and other aspects of sexuality are misconstrued and misunderstood to be matters of personal choice.
For what it's worth (and without pointing this comment at anybody in particular), I suspect the laughter comes more from nervousness than comfort. Having mostly spent time around mostly conventionally gendered people most of my life (as far as I could tell!), I cannot say I found most of them comfortable about it.
Some research happening at CU-Boulder:
http://bcn.boulder.co.us/basin/topical/haa.html
Good ideas, MichaelC. You can easily make your own all purpose cleaning spray from:
2 cups vinegar
2 cups water
20 drops lavender oil
a few drops of Dr Bronner's soap.
Shake, clean whatever you need to clean, and voila - you are not killing yourself with toxic chemicals, and it works.
Lavender oil is a disinfectant. It is expensive, but it lasts forever, and if you add up all the money you pay for all the cleaning supplies, you will likely come out ahead.
Other recipes here: http://www.ecocycle.org/hazwaste/recipes.cfm
Thanks for the idea.
We have gotten rid of all chemical cleaners in our home and use only natural, non-toxic cleaners. They work as well or better than the toxic crap and smell a lot better IMHO. I have also joined an organic farm co-op to cut some meat out of my diet and also to have a locally grown source of fresh produce. The sustainabliltiy movement is gaining steam don't let up, I have changed the opinions of many people in varying degrees. A paradigm shift is on the horizon, don't let it pass unmarked.
Reducing chems is helpful for the allergic, too. I find them very tough to trace, but if I stay away from anything with a long list of ingredients, life gets easier.
They tell us seafood is tainted (chemicals, mercury), too much red meat (beef) is not good for us, there was a chicken/cancer scare many years ago in my lifetime, produce has pesticides, out meats have hormones and antibiotics in them, air polluted, water polluted.
The only thing they say will not kill you, is ........ DYING.
Oh, and they claim paying taxes is not lethal, but .......
AND:
"Not all fish can change sex, but many can. In fact, the majority of reef fish will change gender at some point in their lives. These fish are considered hermaphroditic and such fish have a few options. Some fish are simultaneous hermaphrodites meaning they are both genders at the same time and could potentially mate with any other individual in their species. Other fish are sequential hermaphrodites and these fish change sex at some point in their lives. Protandry is when a male becomes a female and protogyny is when a female becomes a male. Some fish can change their gender more than once, going back and forth between genders.
Read more at Suite101: Hermaphroditic Fish Can be Two Sexes at One Time: Fish Can Change Gender to Increase Their Reproductive Potential http://marine-
life.suite101.com/article.cfm/many_fish_change_sex#ixzz0lmnqGCDk
Maybe the Holy Bible story about 'Adam' was a hermaphrodite.. (!) Some of the more 'devout' would be annoyed at this idea?
(Wonder what the toxic stew was at around his time.)
Is this true of the smallmouth bass in question?
This still does not sound like a natural gender distribution. Close to 50% of biomass in a species will usually be male, 50% female, even counting the hermaphrodites as both.
Bearing eggs within testes is not normal. It never will produce another generation of fish in a natural setting.
The problem with humans is that they live 20 times as long as the fish, so they absorb 20 times as much of the toxic stew over their lifetimes. Certain toxics are known to accumulate in the fatty tissue over a lifetime. Worse, humans eat smallmouth bass, pan-fried thank you. Going one link up the food chain concentrates toxics by a factor of about 10. So, we might be looking at 200 times the damage.
I like being the gender that I am. I worry about getting in mutual trouble with a friend for 18 years and 9 months, I can get misunderstood by lovers, I feel lonely at times, but I still would rather be a breeder.
This is the age of stupid. These days, most people from all over the world have the "couldn't care" attitude towards others and our progeny - and they are the future generations of people who need to take care of the world health in return when we'd retire for good. In the world of global warming, the behaviour of modern man is worse than a wild beast in the jungle. When would we ever learn to be considerate to others and the next users? What goes around comes around.
Google search now:
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Age_of_Stupid
www.ageofstupid.net
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZjsJdokC0s
For crying out loud! We know what the reasons/causes are so stop these asinine "studies" or "research" and get going: BAN CHEMICALS and make the polluters pay the hefty price that nature is now being forced to pay. Are we humans next? For sure...profits before people.