Yet another study shows: Birth control is reducing the fish population for generations

LifeSiteNews ^ | 4/23/15 | Thaddeus Baklinski

[wagglebee]

April 23, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A new study confirms what numerous past studies have already shown: Birth control pills are reducing the fish population.

A new laboratory study of the effects on fish of environmental exposure to the synthetic hormone found in contraceptive pills reiterates numerous previous studies from around the world that found evidence of fertility reduction, sex reversal, and even entire populations of fish dying off.

Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Missouri exposed a small species of aquarium fish, the Japanese medaka, to 17a-ethinylestradiol (EE2), a major ingredient in oral contraceptives for women.

The scientists stated that up to 68 percent of the synthetic estrogen in a birth control pill is excreted in the urine and feces of the woman using it, and that a substantial amount of EE2 has been found in aquatic environments downstream of wastewater treatment plants, because sewage treatment cannot remove the toxic chemical.

The researchers found that the offspring of the fish exposed to the chemical, known to be an endocrine disruptor, had a reduced level of fertility.

The second and third generations of the fish had as much as a 30 percent decrease in their reproductive abilities.

"This study shows that even though endocrine disruptors may not affect the life of the exposed fish, it may negatively affect future generations.," said lead researcher Ramji Bhandari in a USGS press release. “If those trends continued, the potential for declines in overall population numbers might be expected in future generations.”

"These adverse outcomes, if shown in natural populations, could have negative impacts on fish inhabiting contaminated aquatic environments," Bhandari said.

The ever-increasing collection of studies reporting harmful effects of these synthetic hormones on aquatic animals, particularly with regard to their reproduction, have also revealed serious effects on land animals and human beings.

Scientists at the University of Aberdeen found a high incidence of abnormalities related to ingestion of female hormones in sheep maintained on pastures fertilized with sewage sludge (sterilized waste derived from human sewage processing plants).

Their study confirmed that the synthetic hormones found in contraceptive pills pass right through sewage treatment plants and find their way into the food chain.

“One solution to the problems that these chemicals pose,” University of Aberdeen’s Professor Paul Fowler and Dr Stewart Rhind suggested, “might be to simply stop using them."

Research at Brunel University and the University of Exeter linked synthetic female hormones in drinking water and rising male fertility problems.

Lead author on the research paper, Dr Susan Jobling at Brunel University’s Institute for the Environment, said of her study’s findings: “We have been working intensively in this field for over 10 years. The new research findings illustrate the complexities in unraveling chemical causation of adverse health effects in wildlife populations and reopen the possibility of a human–wildlife connection in which effects seen in wild fish and in humans are caused by similar combinations of chemicals."

Writing in Forbes magazine in 2012, British economist Tim Worstall suggested that the government should tax birth control pills to pay for the costs of upgrading and operating sewage treatment facilities to remove the polluting hormones.

Using the "standard logic that the polluter should pay," Worstall said that just as "BP has to pay to clean up the waters of the Gulf after Macondo…women who take the contraceptive pill should pay £1,000 ($1,500 U.S.) a year more in tax. It is women taking the contraceptive pill who are causing this pollution...This really is pollution and yes, we do have this general assumption that the polluter should pay for having polluted."

Worstall posited that, "We cannot charge BP for killing fishies through pollution if we don’t also charge others who kill fishies through pollution, can we?"

"The pill pollutes; thus, those who use the pill should pay the costs of their pollution," Worstall concluded.

The full text of the U.S. Geological Survey and University of Missouri study is available online here.

[wagglebee]

The researchers found that the offspring of the fish exposed to the chemical, known to be an endocrine disruptor, had a reduced level of fertility.

The second and third generations of the fish had as much as a 30 percent decrease in their reproductive abilities.

And still people believe that the Pill is safe for humans.

[wagglebee]

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[Mercat]

It’s not just birth control. It’s hormone replacement therapy. Probably 90% of woman over 50 in my county are on them and probably 80% of women between 16 and 40 are on birth control. Lots of hormones.

[Texas Eagle]

Hallelujah! I look for the DemocRAT Party, the Hollyweird Left and the Men Seeking Men media to "evolve" and become pro-life.

#FishLivesMatter

[Qiviut]

I find it more than ironic that those Libs/Progs/Leftists who think birth control should be paid for by the taxpayers & every female should have it or be on it from cradle to grave, are also pretty much the same people that are Envirowhackos who have done things like shut down California’s water supply for the benefit of a fish. By this reasoning, birth control should be banned to save the fish .... Sierra Club et al, where are you on this one????? /major sarcasm

[Alex Murphy]

Writing in Forbes magazine in 2012, British economist Tim Worstall suggested that the government should tax birth control pills to pay for the costs of upgrading and operating sewage treatment facilities to remove the polluting hormones. Using the "standard logic that the polluter should pay," Worstall said that just as "BP has to pay to clean up the waters of the Gulf after Macondo…women who take the contraceptive pill should pay £1,000 ($1,500 U.S.) a year more in tax. It is women taking the contraceptive pill who are causing this pollution...This really is pollution and yes, we do have this general assumption that the polluter should pay for having polluted." Worstall posited that, "We cannot charge BP for killing fishies through pollution if we don’t also charge others who kill fishies through pollution, can we?" "The pill pollutes; thus, those who use the pill should pay the costs of their pollution," Worstall concluded.

LOL! I only half-expected this to be a Catholic / LifeSiteNews thread when I saw the headline.

[Texas Eagle]

Our water problems are solved! We've been letting water dump into the ocean in order to preserve some little minnow. Now we know the little buggers' lives are not threatened by salmon fishers but by the Sandra Flukes of the world.

And, as luck would have it, there's going to be a huge rally in Sackatomatoes today to encourage legislators to fast track water storage projects.

It's a win-win. Babies lives are saved. Minnows lives are saved. Now that's what I call bi-partisanship.

[KC_Lion]

Won't Someone PLEASE Think of the Delta Smelt!?!!

[spokeshave]

Won't Someone PLEASE Think of the Delta Smelt!?!!

Here's one....

The problem is they only found ONE in the latest survey ....

actually the one shown died...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California's drought appears to be taking a toll on a threatened fish species.

State officials found one delta smelt during a survey earlier this month of 40 sites in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta,

The Record of Stockton reported over the weekend (http://bit.ly/1OuAnhi). The survey by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife typically turns up dozens of smelt, and found 143 three years ago. It was conducted over four days

[blueunicorn6]

It’s all them Spotted Owls. They’re eating all the fish.

[tophat9000]

So female birth control is an environmental pollutant....

blow a libs mind..abstinence is the green eco-friendly birth control....

of course they will counter gay is the green eco-friendly birth control

[GingisK]

And still people believe that the Pill is safe for humans.

Western civilization is in the process of committing suicide. Our leaders are hell-bent on that. This issue with the fish will become a non-problem once civilizations falls.

[goodwithagun]

Anybody know if the Berkey filters filter out birth control pill hormones?

[TruBluKentuckian]

Well, on the bright side, maybe it’ll stop the asian carp invasion.

[headstamp 2]

Add to this the countless other drugs passing through our bodies into the water supply.

I have customers tell me they couldn’t bear to drink well water, reservoir water is the only way to go because it’s “safer” to drink.

LOL

I ask them, during a dry spell, where do they think the majority of “makeup” water comes from that’s flowing into the reservoirs?

That’s right, sewage plants.

[Fresh Wind]

Sex reversal is caused by hormones?

No, that can’t be. Sex reversal is a totally natural occurrence, and something that should be celebrated. /s

[Nevadan]

How many women these days are very careful to eat “organic” and/or are vegan or vegetarian, and careful about every bite they eat being “clean”, yet take birth-control pills to alter the normal & healthy functioning of their bodies

[KarlInOhio]

Mandrake, have you never wondered why I drink only distilled water, or rainwater, and only pure-grain alcohol?

[Dagnabitt]

Not sure about the facts of this article, but I have definitely noticed a lot more lesbian fish.

[Steve_Seattle]

And we can expect this research will be highlighted on the evening news shows and in front-page, above-the-fold stories in major newspapers. /sarc