Birth control pills spark debate over environment

Columbia News Service ^ | Mar. 15, 2008 | LISA CUPIDO

[Between the Lines]

Wherever possible, Tina Casale switches to compact fluorescent light bulbs; she also recycles daily, rides in carpools or walks when she can, and, as a third-grade teacher, has made it a priority to ensure that global warming is a frequent topic in her science discussions.

But in the eyes of some activists, Casale could be doing more to save the environment: Namely, tossing out her birth control pills.

Birth control pills, like batteries and baby bottles, have become the latest item in American homes to become a focus of environmental and health concerns. As scientists debate the effects of synthetic hormones that are flushed into waterways, the potential threat has sparked a clash between advocates and critics of the pill.

"I've heard a little bit about the bad things that birth control can do to the environment," said Casale, 26, who lives in New York City. "If it's causing major problems, I guess I would stop. But to me, the health effects of the pill are a much greater concern than the fate of fish."

In 2003, a group of scientists in Washington state made headlines when they discovered that traces of synthetic estrogen in the state's rivers had reduced the fertility of male fish. Hormonal birth control pills and patches were blamed. Two years later, a team of scientists funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found trout with both female and male characteristics. The culprit, again, was synthetic estrogen.

David Norris, a physiology professor at the University of Colorado, said it is not just estrogen's possible negative effects on aquatic environments that concern him as much as the exposure of these hormones to humans, especially fetuses and newborns. Norris said numerous reports show that estrogenic chemicals in water can result in thyroid problems and an adrenaline imbalance. Thyroid inhibitors are of major concern because they affect the nervous system's development and can cause permanent mental retardation.

Although Norris points out that certain foods, plastics, cosmetics, personal-care products and animal wastes are also causing water contamination, studies in Boulder Creek, Colo., have shown that fish are about 10 times more sensitive to the contribution of estrogen from birth control pills than they are to estradiol, the type of natural estrogen excreted by animals like cows.

The National Catholic Register and WorldNet Daily, a conservative Web publication, seized on the findings, the latter calling birth control pills "poison." The discovery left some environmentally conscious women shaking their heads, unsure of what to make of all this talk of genetically mutated fish and unsafe drinking water.

"It gets me angry," said Tracy Oetting, 47, an environmental and political activist from Washington. "It appears that there is no concern for women or the environment if everyone is OK with the eco-damage that hormones can do to women, men, fish and animals."

Laurel Butler, 60, a New York member of the Sierra Club, a grassroots environmental organization, says she doesn't believe in infringing on other people's rights to make decisions. But if birth control pills are proven to be the culprit, she says she would stand by a law that protects the environment against estrogen.

"Why aren't women in this generation doing more to protect the environment?" Butler said. "You've got a population screaming for instant, easy birth control and pharmaceutical companies answering to their demands. Who is responsible for the environment?"

Effect is disputed

The discourse about hormone-free waters has extended to online message boards and other sites. One group on Facebook started an anti-estrogens campaign. On its home page, the small group shares claims that a decrease in human sperm count over the years is a result of hormones in drinking water and urges women to stop taking the pill if they're not in a relationship.

But many women and women's groups are not buying into the message.

"It sounds to me like this is a pollution issue rather than a birth control issue," said Kaycie Rene Booher, 20, a student at the University of Central Missouri. "People are jumping for a chance to discredit birth control as an important option for women's health and safety."

Heather Trim, the urban bays and toxics program manager at the People for Puget Sound in Washington, warns women that there is no evidence in the United States of the human impact of contaminated estrogen water, and that women should not discard their pills just yet.

"Estrogen is also found in products like hair straighteners and plastics," said Trim. "It's not necessarily just birth control."

Paige Novak, an associate professor of engineering at the University of Minnesota, agrees.

"There isn't a whole lot of funding going toward updating waste center treatments," she said. "The problem might be resolved just by updating the plants."

Amy Allina, the program director of the National Women's Health Network, says women should be aware that some forms of contraception, such as the patch and vaginal ring, seep more hormones into the environment because they are discarded directly into the garbage after use. The competition among pharmaceutical companies for a slice of the oral contraceptive market is so fierce, she said, that the development of an "eco-friendly" birth control pill could be just around the corner. Bayer and Pfizer, two leading makers of birth control pills, did not respond to requests for comment.

"At this point we just don't know if the benefits of the pill outweigh its negative environmental effects," Allina said. "Unfortunately, women need to make a decision based on imperfect information."

[Puppage]

Wherever possible, Tina Casale switches to compact fluorescent light bulbs; she also recycles daily, rides in carpools or walks when she can

Does she have a clothesline, or is walking to & fro to inconveniencing?

[b4its2late]

Flush some viagra to counteract the bc pills......

[RobinOfKingston]

Laurel Butler, 60, a New York member of the Sierra Club, a grassroots environmental organization, says she doesn't believe in infringing on other people's rights to make decisions.

The only reason the sierra club exists is to "infring[e] on other people's rights."

[wbill]

she says she would stand by a law that protects the environment against estrogen.

There's a fantastic joke here, just can't come up with it right this second.

[ChurtleDawg]

or anabolic steroids :o

[dragonblustar]

Sure, get rid of birth control to have more abortions. The libs would just love that.

[VeniVidiVici]

"If it's causing major problems, I guess I would stop. But to me, the health effects of the pill are a much greater concern than the fate of fish."

Hallmark of today's liberal Democrats.

"I'm all for it, unless it affects me."

[Vigilanteman]

Let the damn polar icecaps melt and dilute it.

Qattara Depression

If Greenland melted down completely, 88% of the excess water produced could be contained by flooding the uninhabited Qatarra Depression in northwest Egypt, producing thousands of miles of valuable lakefront property, generating electrical power as water flowed from the Medditerranean to the depression and potentially turning much of the surrounding Sahara Desert into arable land.

It took Greenland 18,000 years to accumulate as much ice as it has now. How long do you think it will take it to melt?

[Slapshot68]

“Wherever possible, Tina Casale switches to compact fluorescent light bulbs; she also recycles daily, rides in carpools or walks when she can, and, as a third-grade teacher, has made it a priority to ensure that global warming is a frequent topic in her science discussions.”

All admiral ways to be good stewards of the environment....but to stop global warming? lol Yikes.

[ex-snook]

“Our Stolen Future: Birth control pills alter gender of male fish ...” Check google on what’s happening to fish. Future work force coming from unaffected third world countries. Today Mexico, tomorrow the world.

[Libertarianchick]

The fish can kiss my butt. I would not be able to function for several days every month due to severe cramps if I wasn’t on the pill. Not having kids every couple of years is only a side benefit.
Change the water treatment plants. I’m sure some treatment could chelate estrogens, they just need to find it.

[unixfox]

I don’t care if the earth collapses into a black hole, please, PLEASE do not let these people stop taking their anti-psychotic drugs to protect us from GLOBAL WARMING!

[KOZ.]

LOL...thats exactly what I thought...Can you make a law protecting us from estrogen?

thats just too funny.

[CPOSharky]

Didn’t the hormones-in-water-horrible-effects thing happen a few years ago and was totally debunked?

[wolfcreek]

Some group is developing a PSA to teach people how to *properly* dispose of their meds.

What about recycling sweat, urine and feces?

[wbill]

Can you make a law protecting us from estrogen?...Banning Hillary! and the NOW gang comes to mind. I'd feel safer.

But that's still not the right joke...still fishing around for it.

[CarrotAndStick]

"Flush some viagra to counteract the bc pills..."

Noooo!

VIAGRA SPILL REVIVES LAKE MICHIGAN
Once-Cold and Torpid, Waterway Now Greatest of Great Lakes

   Time-Lapse Satellite Images

Chicago (SatireWire.com) — A freighter containing 62,000 metric tons of popular impotence drug Viagra struck a reef and sank in Lake Michigan today. As a result, the once-frigid lake no longer dangles into Illinois and Indiana, but now spans majestically across northern Wisconsin.

According to eyewitnesses, roughly 30 to 60 minutes after the ship's contents dissolved, the lake slowly but firmly began to push northwest toward Minnesota. Eventually, its swollen banks managed to poke aside Lake Superior, which cartographers said will lose its standing as the largest of the Great Lakes for the next four to six hours.

Area residents were surprised by the sudden shift, but conceded Michigan was "like an entirely new lake."

"For so many years that lake just, you know, sat there," said Martha Strop of Eau Claire, Wisc. "To be honest, I never even thought about it anymore. There wasn't much of a point. But now, well, this has changed our lives forever."

Government officials, however, were more cautious.

In Wisconsin, Gov. Scott McCallum declared a state of emergency, while in Minnesota, Gov. Jesse Ventura declared: "Is Lake Michigan a threat, or is it just glad to see me?"

 

Copyright © 2002, SatireWire.

http://www.satirewire.com/news/july02/viagra.shtml

 

 

[SuziQ]

as a third-grade teacher, has made it a priority to ensure that global warming is a frequent topic in her science discussions.

Does that mean she's brainwashing her little skulls full of mush with the Algore party line, or that she's giving the kids all sides of the story so they can make informed judgements about it? I'm assuming the former.

[Phantom Lord]

Laurel Butler, 60, a New York member of the Sierra Club, a grassroots environmental organization, says she doesn't believe in infringing on other people's rights to make decisions. But if birth control pills are proven to be the culprit, she says she would stand by a law that protects the environment against estrogen.

"Why aren't women in this generation doing more to protect the environment?" Butler said. "You've got a population screaming for instant, easy birth control and pharmaceutical companies answering to their demands. Who is responsible for the environment?"

Hey Laurel, its YOUR generation that brought The Pill, demands for it, and the environmental destruction it has caused. Not todays generation. Its YOUR FAULT!!!

Seriously. Can the environmental movement and Church of Algore get any more wacky?