Your sunscreen makes my alligator sad...
source: http://www.obsentinel.womacknewspapers.com/articles/2008/05/14/top_stories/tops2322.txt
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- sajh
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Your sunscreen and birth control pills may be affecting the size and efficacy of alligator penises, among other things. On a positive note, your Prozac makes mussels happy.
From the article:
"Most people don't see a stockpile of environmental contaminants when they look in their bathroom cabinets, but pharmaceuticals and personal care products contain thousands of chemicals that could impact aquatic life. ...
Unlike agricultural and industrial pollutants, chemicals in PPCPs [pharmaceuticals and personal care products] enter the environment at low but often continual levels by thousands or millions of people in towns and cities around the world.
Some of these chemical compounds are endocrine disruptors that act like hormones and can interfere with reproduction.
Perhaps the most widely publicized study of the impact of endocrine disruptors came in the 1990s when researchers reported male alligators with abnormally small penises and high blood levels of female hormones in a Florida lake with a declining alligator population.
Mitra said scientists have discovered that fish stopped reproducing within a few weeks after low levels of the active ingredient in birth control pills was added to experimental lakes.
Endocrine disruptors aren't found only in oral contraceptives and therapeutic hormones though.
Preservatives called parabens, found in many shampoos and sunscreens, are endocrine disruptors also.
And, at North Carolina State University, scientists found that adding a small amount of a common antidepressant to the water altered the reproductive behavior of freshwater mussels.
Other research is looking at whether low levels of prescription antibiotics could promote pathogen resistance in aquatic species."
From the article:
"Most people don't see a stockpile of environmental contaminants when they look in their bathroom cabinets, but pharmaceuticals and personal care products contain thousands of chemicals that could impact aquatic life. ...
Unlike agricultural and industrial pollutants, chemicals in PPCPs [pharmaceuticals and personal care products] enter the environment at low but often continual levels by thousands or millions of people in towns and cities around the world.
Some of these chemical compounds are endocrine disruptors that act like hormones and can interfere with reproduction.
Perhaps the most widely publicized study of the impact of endocrine disruptors came in the 1990s when researchers reported male alligators with abnormally small penises and high blood levels of female hormones in a Florida lake with a declining alligator population.
Mitra said scientists have discovered that fish stopped reproducing within a few weeks after low levels of the active ingredient in birth control pills was added to experimental lakes.
Endocrine disruptors aren't found only in oral contraceptives and therapeutic hormones though.
Preservatives called parabens, found in many shampoos and sunscreens, are endocrine disruptors also.
And, at North Carolina State University, scientists found that adding a small amount of a common antidepressant to the water altered the reproductive behavior of freshwater mussels.
Other research is looking at whether low levels of prescription antibiotics could promote pathogen resistance in aquatic species."
