What's so scary about Xenoestrogens?

The effects of xenoestrogens are many and varied. I'm going to list some of the effects that have been documented in both humans and animals. Many of these incidents are from the book Our Stolen Future: How We Are Threatening Our Fertility, Intelligence, and Survival-- A Scientific Detective Story by Theo Colborn, Dianne Dumanoski, and John Peter Meyers. This book is the Bible of hormone disruptors because it analyzes dozens of independent studies that relate to xenoestrogens. The authors compiled them to show the massive effects of xenoestrogens in the world. http://www.ourstolenfuture.org/Basics/bottomline.htm

I don't have the sources for the other info I'm citing; it comes from a class discussion we had in Global Resources 307, where individuals in the class read about 20 various articles on the subject and then presented the info to the class. Needless to say these were scholarly articles. But still, I wish I had the source listing. However, I do have the years and locations of some of the studies.

Effects on Humans:

• 2002, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: pregnant women's plasma levels have high levels of DDT and DDE. These were also present in the placenta and breast milk. Was due to high consumption of contaminated fish.
• 1996: women who have been exposed to PCBs and DDE had greater levels of breast cancer.
• 2001: Increase in hypospadia (malformed sex organs or hermaphrodites). The number is 1/250 babies worldwide have this problem.
• 2002, Egypt: organochlorides present in breat milk. The longer a mother breastfeeds, the more organochlorides dispelled from her body(and into the baby's).
• 1996, Minnesota: more birth defects in agricultural areas
• Many different studies have documented a decrease in human sperm count. Also, aside from lower number of sperm, there are more deformed sperm (ie. two tails, no tail, no head)
• A decrease in penis size (yes, that's right boys!!!)
• Link:http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/CityandRegion/2006/04/29/1556379-sun.html This is an article from the London Free Press entitled Pesticides May Affect Penis Size.
• Scotland, Stirling University: metabolic malfunctions that lead to obesity because xenoestrogens affect natural weight-control processes
• 2002: Journal of Lipid Research "indicates that unwanted weight gain may be strongly linked to hormone-disrupting contaminants" by increasing the number of fat cells in the body and also by enhancing the fat storing capabilities of those cells.
• There has also been evidence these chemicals affect behaviour and cause decreased intelligence (by an average of 5 IQ points, I believe it was).
• 2002, Holland: Exposure in the womb causes males to exhibit "demasculinized play behaviours" (http://www.ourstolenfuture.org/NewScience/behavior/behav.htm).

Effects in Animals:

• 1950s, Florida: bald eagles no longer interested in mating.
• 1968-1978: Fish and birds have growth and development problems that were eventually linked to DDT, DDE, aldrin, and dialdrin
• 1960s, Lake Michigan: minks not producing as many pups.
• 1994-1995, Florida: Alligators have reduced penis sizes and decreased sperm counts that lead to it being almost impossible for them to reproduce.
• 1970s, Lake Ontario: Herring Gulls, 80% of chicks didn't hatch and there were many gross deformities (ie. missing eyes, twisted bills).
• 2002, Florida: 80% of the femal mosquito fish were partially masculinized, and 10% were fully masculinized, meaning only 10% were normal!
• 2004: More female turtles born than males
• 2000: Mice-- exposure to environmental estrogens leads to female reproductive cancers and malformations; testicular cancer.
• 1950s, England: disappearance of otters.