Estrogen, estrogen everywhere, and not a drop to drink.

According to an article in the Scientific American, fish in some American rivers have enough estrogen in them to cause breast cancer cells to grow in laboratory dishes. No one knows exactly what estrogen causing chemicals the fish have imbibed, the article says,

But their effects on the fish themselves were clear: the gender of nine of the fish could not be determined. "Increased estrogenic active substances in the water are changing males so that they are indistinguishable from females," Volz says. "There are eggs in male gonads as well as males are secreting a yolk sac protein. Males aren't supposed to be making egg stuff."

Despite the fact that there is a pharmacy on every streetcorner in my county, I have never seen a fish shop at a pharmacy. And although I have browsed the fish section at Walmart and talked with my friends who own fish, I have never seen an estrogen supplement marketed for goldfish or guppies. Where are these fish getting megadoses of estrogen?

The article explains:

All of the hormone replacement products that women use go down the drain, along with birth control pills, antibacterial soaps, and many of the plastics we use, like Bisphenol A, have such effects.

Translation: women consume hormones to prevent conception or to ease the effects of menopause, these hormones are excreted into the toilet, the toilet is flushed into the sewer, and the sewer treatment system does not get rid of the hormones before the sewer water is dumped into the rivers to cause an identity crisis for young male fish.

The article goes on to express concern about the effect this may be having on populations who depend on rivers for their drinking water. Who knows but that it may cause breast cancer in women or--well, bad effects in men? That is indeed a cause for concern!

But the Scientific American avoids the big question. The estrogen zapping our fish is what manages to get past our sewage treatment system; the estrogen hitting our sewage treatment system is the extra stuff not absorbed by the bodies of American women. If this leftover of a leftover is transmogrifying our fish, what is all that estrogen doing to American women?

Medical ignoramus that I am, I don't know the answer. But I do know why the Scientific American avoids suggesting the possibility of a hint of a guess at the answer.

Today's American culture is built on the foundation of the birth control pill. Our economy presupposes a large population of working women, houses are designed for families with two kids or fewer, cars are designed for small families, movies are about single people or married people with two kids (one boy and one girl), and the American dream is to retire young, that is, when the second child has reached maturity, and move to Florida and play golf. To suggest that birth control has bad effects on women involves more than fighting a large and lucrative industry with lots of lobbying power. To speak against contraception means fighting to redefine the way America lives and dreams.

The task is intimidating, even when you have the research sitting on your desk.