Are Hormones In Your Drinking Water Affecting Your Health?
Hormones are the body’s messengers, carrying crucial information for the body’s functioning and development. They operate in tiny quantities but have a huge effect on us.
Scientists have learnt how to interfere with these natural processes. Probably the best known example of this is the contraceptive pill.
But what happens when our intake of hormones and hormone mimicking chemicals goes out of control?
The enormous amount of these compounds now being discharged into the environment affect us all, and in ways we are only now beginning to understand.
Why we should be concerned
Recent research from the UK’s Cardiff University has shown that starlings living close to sewage treatment plants are behaving strangely.
The male starlings’ song has changed, becoming longer and more complex.
The treated water from these plants contains high levels of synthetic oestrogen. This has come from you, guessed it, women’s pee.
Women who are on the pill pee most of the active ingredient, synthetic oestrogen, out of their bodies.
Sewage plants can not deal with these chemicals. They simply get recycled back into… your drinking water.
Synthetic oestrogen is believed to be the reason behind the starlings changed behaviour.
As far back as the 1970s it was observed that some in some seagull colonies the females were pairing up in response to a lack of interest from the male birds. More detailed research found that some of these disinterested males had started to develop female sex organs, including egg-laying canals.
Following pollution of certain Florida waterways, the alligator population started to fall as a result of reduced fertility in the species. Part of the problem was the young males developing with undersized penises.
In the same waterways the turtle population was also seen to be affected, with many developing into hermaphrodites.
In the UK, the government’s Environment Agency found that 1 in 3 male roach fish in all the country’s rivers were developing female sex organs.
And some male roach had started producing eggs.
Natural production of oestrogens in the body
In humans and most other vertebrates oestrogen is mainly produced in the female ovaries. Small amounts are also produced in the adrenal glands, fats in the body, brain and male testes.
Natural function of oestrogens in the body
The main function of these hormones is to control and regulate the development of female sexual characteristics and reproduction.
They also affect fat levels in the blood, production of enzymes, balance of water and salt, strength and density of bones, the elasticity of both skin and blood vessels and functions of the brain relating to sexual and maternal behaviour and memory.
Synthetic oestrogen
Synthetic oestrogens are mainly used for the contraceptive pill, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and some cancer drugs.
HRT is used mainly to counter the symptoms of menopause, such as hot flushes, vaginal dryness and loss of bone density. These benefits must be weighed against an increased risk of various side-effects, such as heart disease, blood clotting and breast cancer.
Oestrogen mimics and other chemicals
The problems outlined here are not confined to the contraceptive pill and HRT, there are a wide range of chemicals which mimic the actions of hormones and subsequently affect the function of organisms (both human and non-human).
Among these substances are PVC (a common type of plastic); PCBs, used in paints, plastics and other materials; and pthalates, which are used to give flexibility to plastics.
There are also phytoestrogens present in soya products and other processed foodstuffs.
Harmful effects of oestrogens in the human body
Over the long term, exposure to excessive amounts of these hormones can cause increased risk of breast cancer and endometrial and cervical cancers in women.
Male children of mothers exposed to hormone mimicking chemicals have been found to have malformed genitals with undersized penis, un-descended testicles and hypospadias, or the urinary tract opening on the underside of the penis or even in the scrotum.
Between the 1960s and 1990s the incidence of this condition in newborn males has doubled.
In adult males too much oestrogen reduces sperm count and potency, and reduces fertility.
Sperm counts globally have fallen by more than 50% in just 5 decades, and are continuing to fall by 2% annually.
Phytoestrogens may be implicated in the increase in breast and testicular cancers. In laboratory experiments on animals these effects have been found to pass on from generation to generation.
It has recently been discovered that the natural ratio of between the sexes is changing. Where before there were 106 boys born to every 100 girls, the ratio of girls is increasing. In just the USA and Japan alone this has been calculated to represent 250,000 girls alive today who would previously have been born male.
How pollutants get into the water system
Hormones and hormone mimicking chemicals enter the water supply in a number of ways, from industrial processes through to commercial and residential waste.
Hormones from the contraceptive pill and hormone replacement therapy exit the body in the urine, and survive subsequent sewage treatment to pass into waterways and the general environment.
Water treatment plants are currently unable to eliminate these substances from our drinking water supplies.
How Can you protect yourself and your family
These chemicals are here to stay. Hopefully as awareness increases of their negative effects, people will slowly start to change their behaviour to reduce their accumulation in the environment.
This will not happen without legislation compelling industry to act responsibly, along with encouragement for individuals to change.
One example of this is for clinics and health centres to dispose of old medicines properly; still too many are simply flushed down the drain to enter the food chain further down the line.
As an individual, we can take steps to reduce our personal and family intake, primarily by filtering out the unwanted chemicals from our water supply at the point of use.
There are a number of water filter systems available, depending on volume of water consumed, budget and performance requirements.
The simplest system to install and use is the under sink water filter, which can be fitted in a short time, and has a simple filter element which should be changed every 6 months. However not all of these systems will filter out all unwanted chemicals like hormones.
If you want to filter out hormones you would probably need a more sophisticated under sink reverse osmosis water filters,
However you also need to bear in mind that the skin absorbs much more of what is in bath or shower water than previously thought. For the total solution you would be best of choosing a ceramic based whole house water filter.
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