We can choose to give up smoking, to stop taking drugs, to lose weight, to get fit. We demand labelling of GMO products, but we humans, and all wildlife, are being involuntarily genetically modified… and we remain silent.
Since the 1950’s the surface of the Earth has become saturated with chemical byproducts of the fossil fuel industry, and our indoor exposure to these substances now exceeds our outdoor exposure. Over 90,000 synthetic chemicals are in use, most of them untested.
Blasted with endocrine disruptors (EDC) or hormone mimickers in the very air we breathe, the adverse effect on all life is profound. While the effect on females is extremely damaging—decreased fertility, increased rate in miscarriages and other health risks—it is especially devastating to males. Our dependence on the fossil fuel industry and its by-products, especially plastics, is profoundly damaging health, well-being and development, particularly for males.
The endocrine system
The endocrine system of glands and hormones regulates body growth, response to stress, sexual development and behaviour, production and utilization of insulin, rate of metabolism, intelligence and behaviour, and the ability to reproduce. Anything that disrupts this finely tuned system, particularly while in the womb, has catastrophic outcomes, not only adversely affecting basic health, but the ability to think, concentrate, function, and, most importantly, the ability to procreate. The effect on humans after birth is still being studied.
What are endocrine disruptors?
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences describes endocrine disruptors as follows:
Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that may interfere with the body’s endocrine system and produce adverse developmental, reproductive, neurological, and immune effects in both humans and wildlife. A wide range of substances, both natural and man-made, are thought to cause endocrine disruption, including pharmaceuticals, dioxin and dioxin-like compounds, polychlorinated biphenyls, DDT and other pesticides, and plasticizers such as bisphenol A. Endocrine disruptors may be found in many everyday products– including plastic bottles, metal food cans, detergents, flame retardants, food, toys, cosmetics, and pesticides. The NIEHS supports studies to determine whether exposure to endocrine disruptors may result in human health effects including lowered fertility and an increased incidence of endometriosis and some cancers. Research shows that endocrine disruptors may pose the greatest risk during prenatal and early postnatal development when organ and neural systems are forming.
As of October 2011 the list of probable endocrine disruptors stood at approximately 870 chemicals.
While many of these can be avoided, such as DDT which has been “illegalized” (though the return to use is being widely discussed), and dioxins which are formed as a result of the burning process (i.e. forest fires, home garbage, toxic waste), two of these—bisphenol A and phthalates—are part of every day life.
Bisphenol A and phthalates
Bisphenol A is used in the manufacture of lightweight and hard plastics as well as epoxy resins. Phthalates are used to make soft plastics and are found in a variety of products from the coatings of pharmaceutical pills and nutritional supplements to food products and textiles. They make things smell nice, creams stick to our skin and plastic soft so that it can be formed into bottles or other shapes.
Both of these products, which are used in the manufacture of almost all plastics and other products in daily use, are estrogen (female hormone) mimickers. They’re in everything—shampoo, cosmetics, cleaning products, flooring, electronic equipment, paint, hospital equipment such as IV tubing, plastic bags, liners, can liners, water and baby bottles, and children’s toys. They leach into our food, into the air we breathe and contamination can occur from simply being in a room with products containing these compounds.
A quick scan for plastics around a typical room looks something like this: computer, mouse, mouse pad, keyboard, TV screen, fan, electric cable housing, cable conduit, wall plugs, reading lamp, wastebasket, cupboard door handles, faux leather chairs, speaker housing, telephone, cell phone, trays, remote controls, room deodorant, A/C control and housing, ballpoint pens, vinyl flooring, wall paint.
The human race has become so dependent on the ease of use, availability and cost-savings of these fossil fuel by-products that living without them has become unthinkable. They’re part of everything we do, every day. From the things we use to the food we eat.
Prophecy?
In 1991 at the Wingspread Conference Center in Racine, Wisconsin, a group of scientists made the following statement: “Unless the environmental load of synthetic hormone disruptors is abated and controlled, large scale dysfunction at the population level is possible.”
In the last 20 years there has been a steady increase in the incidence of all male species suffering from genital deformities, low sperm count, sperm abnormalities and testicular cancer—fish, birds, animals and humans.
In 2008 CBC released The Disappearing Male, a documentary that was judged by those with biased and commercial interests to take an alarmist or one-sided look at these ubiquitous chemicals in our environment. As one presenter puts it, what we’re seeing could be considered “industrial terrorism in the womb.” Is this really alarmist? Here are some statistics quoted in the documentary:
- Of the 80,000 chemicals in use, 85 percent of them have never undergone testing for their impact on the human body
- Male birth rates are down as male fetuses are being destroyed in the womb
- Defects in male sex organs are 8.5 times higher
- Urinal tract defects in males are 62 percent higher
- Defects in gastrointestinal tracts are up 55 percent
- Sperm count has dropped from a “norm” of 50 million to 20 million and a new “norm” of 10 million is being considered.
- And the brain is not immune. A doubling of errors of commission (knowing and wanting to do the correct thing, but doing the incorrect thing) in boys has been noted, as has a three point drop in IQ.
- A study done by Environmental Health Perspectives on the birth ratio of the Aamjiwnaang community, in Sarnia, Canada surrounded by chemical plants found the male to female birth ratio of 50:50 before 1999 had dropped 33 percent boys to 67 percent girls by 2003. (The full report can be downloaded in PDF format here: Indigenous Peoples of North America: Environmental Exposures and Reproductive Justice)
Not only does exposure to these chemicals affect the ability to reproduce in both males and females, but it’s causing an increasing risk of contracting other disorders such as ADHD, autism, intelligence and behavioural problems, diabetes, obesity, cancers, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s Disease. A number of these, such as ADHD, autism and behavioural problems, are strongly biased towards males.
Updated studies
The United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) issued a press release in February 2013 titled Effects of Human and Wildlife Exposure to Hormone-Disrupting Chemicals Examined in Landmark UN Report based on a study done in 2012 by a world body of experts in the field of endocrine disruptors. The following warning was issued by Dr. Maria Neira, WHO’s Director for Public Health and Environment:
We urgently need more research to obtain a fuller picture of the health and environment impacts of endocrine disruptors. The latest science shows that communities across the globe are being exposed to EDCs, and their associated risks. WHO will work with partners to establish research priorities to investigate links to EDCs and human health impacts in order to mitigate the risks. We all have a responsibility to protect future generations.
(The full 289-page report can be downloaded here UN Study on Endocrine Disruptors)
Some of the myriad questions we should be asking. Have your say in the comments below:
- What can we do when everything we come into contact with and use is dependent on and contaminated by chemical compounds?
- Rather than just the effect of fossil fuels on climate change, shouldn’t we be looking much closer at the more sinister effect on the very essence of our being?
- How do we stop this bombardment, or is it irreversible?
- Will future beings be more intelligent, healthy and less destructive?
- Most importantly, do we care enough to actually do something?
“We are conducting a vast toxicological experiment in which our children and our children’s children are the experimental subjects.”—Dr. Herbert Needleman
Watch The Disappearing Male here:
Other sources:
United Nations Environmental Program
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
Natural Recourse Defense Council
Collaborative on Health and the Environment
Tox Town: Environmental health concerns and toxic chemicals where you live, work and play
The Endocrine Disruption Exchange (TEDX)
Letter to the President by Dr. Theo Colborn, founder and president of The Endocrine Disruption Exchange (TEDX), an environmental health analyst, best known for her studies on the health effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals (video)
