Contraceptive pill is polluting environment: Vatican newspaper

Yahoo! News (AFP) ^ | 1/3/2009 | n/a

[Pyro7480]

he contraceptive pill is polluting the environment and is in part responsible for male infertility, a report in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano said Saturday.

The pill "has for some years had devastating effects on the environment by releasing tonnes of hormones into nature" through female urine, said Pedro Jose Maria Simon Castellvi, president of the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations, in the report.

"We have sufficient evidence to state that a non-negligible cause of male infertility in the West is the environmental pollution caused by the pill," he said, without elaborating further.

"We are faced with a clear anti-environmental effect which demands more explanation on the part of the manufacturers," added Castellvi.

The article was promptly dismissed by several organisations.

"Once metabolised, the hormones contained in oral contraceptives no longer have any of the characteristic effects of feminine hormones," said Gianbenedetto Melis, vice-president of a contraceptive research association, quoted by the ANSA news agency.

The hormones contained in the pill such as oestrogen "are present everywhere... in plastic, in disinfectants, in meat that we eat," added Flavia Franconi, of the Society of Italian Pharmacology....

[Pyro7480]

The hormones contained in the pill such as oestrogen "are present everywhere... in plastic, in disinfectants, in meat that we eat," added Flavia Franconi, of the Society of Italian Pharmacology.

Quite true, and what she's not saying is that it's contributing to the problem.

[Pyro7480]

Catholic ping!

[marajade]

this has got to be a joke right

[ichabod1]

Yes, and there are measurable levels of antidepressants and other prescription medications in the nations major rivers.

[marajade]

We have treatment plants in AZ.

[eclecticEel]

pah-leze.

We get it, they don’t like birth control; just be honest about it because we don’t need the theatrics.

[marajade]

Yeah lets just ignore the science

[Bon mots]

It worked for Al Gore...

[MyTwoCopperCoins]

There was a group of scientists that came up with this study almost a year ago. Yes, it was posted on FR.

[Brilliant]

It encourages sex, and sex causes heavy breathing, which increases greenhouse gases.

[marajade]

and everyone of them great scholars i am sure

[Psycho_Bunny]

The premise has been known fact for years....it’s only the damage that’s been in dispute.

[SolidWood]

[littlehouse36]

The real bugaboo in The Pill is progestin.

Google “progestin breast cancer.”

[DBrow]

Hmmm...even without The Pill humans must dump tons of hormones into the environment. And add to that animals and their urine, and it adds up to a large number!

Then there are all the insects dumping pheromones into the air, and people emit pheromones too, as do most animals.

Plants use ethylene gas as a hormone and as communications.

Life really must mess up Earth!

I’d like to read some papers on just how much BC hormone is excreted in human female urine and what it’s environmental fate is, before I decide if this is a problem.

Any of you researchers find some backup data to refute or prove this claim?

[Greysard]

Here is another story on the subject.

[Pyro7480]

Hey, don’t shoot the messengers. See post #9

[DBrow]

An analytical procedure was developed that enables routine analysis of four estrogenic hormones in concentrations below 1 ng/l in surface water and waste water. The recovery was 88–98% with a limit of detection of 0.1–2.4 ng/l depending on the compound and the matrix measured. This method was used to determine the occurrence of 17β-estradiol, 17α-estradiol, estrone and 17α-ethinylestradiol in the aquatic environment in The Netherlands. The data show that estrogenic hormones can be detected at low concentrations (up to 6 ng/l) at some locations in surface water. In selected effluents of waste water treatment plants estrone and 17β-estradiol were detected in concentrations in the ng/l range. Concentrations of 17α-estradiol and the contraceptive 17α-ethinylestradiol were in most of these samples below the limit of detection. Hormone glucuronides were not detected in most surface water and effluents. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V78-3Y9RKF0-B&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=9359869a830b3072a4cac346607b05b5

[Pyro7480]

Or post #16 for that matter.

[Arizona Carolyn]

True and not just birth control pills, but other drugs — all of which end up in our water and is affecting fish and other animals along with humans.