CHEM Trust reports on male feminisation
CHEM Trust, a charity “with a mission to protect humans and wildlife from harmful chemicals” has issued its well-trailed report on the effects of man-made endocrine-disrupting, or “gender bending”, chemicals in the environment.
These are:-
... chemicals which block the male hormone androgen, the so-called anti-androgenic chemicals, can cause un-descended testes and can feminise males. Similarly, some sex hormone disrupting chemicals can mimic oestrogen, the female hormone, and also feminise males. Many man-made chemicals can block androgen action, and these include several pesticides and some phthalates, used in consumer products to make plastics flexible. Worryingly, a study of effluents from UK sewage works has found that around three-quarters of these discharges have considerable anti-androgenic activity, and investigations are underway to identify the chemicals to blame.
The four-part report is not confined or focussed upon the known effects of pollutants upon human males. It reviews effects upon the males of all vertebrate life. Nonetheless, the underlying concern is for our male offspring:-
Taken together, the effects seen in wildlife should raise concerns for contaminant induced genital disruption in human male infants. Indeed a condition called testicular dysgenesis syndrome, including birth defects of the penis of baby boys, cryptorchidism (undescended testes), reduced sperm production and testicular cancer, has been suggested, because there is evidence to indicate that these effects may be interlinked in causation (Skakkebaek et al.,2001; 2007; Sharpe and Skakkebaek,2008). Moreover, in many studies these disorders or demasculinization effects have been associated with exposure to certain contaminants or sex hormone.
All of the chemicals associated with these effects are to be found in the developed world. They are generally less evident in the developing world. Male children born to Third World migrants in the West are as at risk as those born to settled populations here.
In two days time the British government will oppose proposed new European controls on pesticides, many of which have been found to have “gender-bending” effects. In total, there have been over 100,000 new chemicals introduced in recent years. Ninety-nine per cent of them are not properly regulated, and eight-five per cent are devoid of accompanying safety information.
The full report, which follows studies in Italy and America, can be downloaded in pdf form here.
Posted by James Bowery on Mon, 08 Dec 2008 17:16 | #
In 1978, Israel banned three estrogenic pesticides.