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Contraceptive pill is polluting environment: Vatican newspaper
Yahoo! News (AFP) ^ | 1/3/2009 | n/a

Posted on 01/03/2009 6:02:56 PM PST by 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....

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: contraception; contraceptives; enviromentalism; hormones; infertility; pollution; vatican
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To: Psycho_Bunny

I think the original study was based on samples of fish taken from rivers, with defective sex organs, mating habits etc.


21 posted on 01/03/2009 6:33:54 PM PST by MyTwoCopperCoins
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To: Pyro7480

I’m not shooting the messengers at all, just jumping in.


22 posted on 01/03/2009 6:33:56 PM PST by DBrow
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To: Pyro7480
Various studies indicate that unregulated chemicals released into the environment are causing male animals and humans to take on feminine characteristics.

Does this explain why the Republican party has become so timid?

23 posted on 01/03/2009 6:35:27 PM PST by Liberty Wins
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To: Liberty Wins

lol if they drink tapwater and the dems all drink the same type of bottled water, you may be on to something.

And it’s as plausible as any theory requiring that fire not melt steel!


24 posted on 01/03/2009 6:41:04 PM PST by DBrow
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To: DBrow
And it’s as plausible as any theory requiring that fire not melt steel

So anyone forwarding the theory of synthetic hormones affecting the environment are like 9/11 Truthers, eh?

25 posted on 01/03/2009 6:49:17 PM PST by Pyro7480 (This Papist asks everyone to continue to pray the Rosary for our country!)
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To: Pyro7480
the contraceptive pill is polluting the environment and is in part responsible for male infertility

Wow this must have man-hating environmental whackos in a dither. Save the environment...sterilize men...save the environment...sterilize men...save the environment...

26 posted on 01/03/2009 6:54:44 PM PST by Tidbit (What's black and white, and red all over? The new administration.)
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

Something like that. The only thing about the premise of this article is that factually, it takes over 2mg of estradiol - per day - to have any perceptible effect on a male human. 2mg is a LOT.


27 posted on 01/03/2009 7:03:54 PM PST by Psycho_Bunny (ALSO SPRACH ZEROTHUSTRA)
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To: Pyro7480

Please read my posts- I was responding to someone postulating that Republicans have become wussies because of female hormones in the water. THAT theory is as good as theories requiring that fire not melt steel, perhaps you missed the humor there.

This could indeed be serious, and if you scrool up more you’ll see that I asked FR research types to look for articles about persistence of hormones in human urine and their environmental plight, then posted an abstract with a link on just that topic.

A political article using “science facts” takes some work to sort out, but we do that well here.


28 posted on 01/03/2009 7:09:33 PM PST by DBrow
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To: Psycho_Bunny; MyTwoCopperCoins

The abstract I posted above mentions levels of 6 nanograms per liter. At that level it would take 166,000 liters to get a milligram, which is only 20 liters per day for a little over 8000 years.

If we are more sensitive, say at the microgram level, then the problem becomes more plausible.

We need more data.


29 posted on 01/03/2009 7:13:59 PM PST by DBrow
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To: DBrow
Please read my posts- I was responding to someone postulating that Republicans have become wussies because of female hormones in the water. THAT theory is as good as theories requiring that fire not melt steel, perhaps you missed the humor there.

Well, on second glance, lol. ;-)

30 posted on 01/03/2009 7:14:35 PM PST by Pyro7480 (This Papist asks everyone to continue to pray the Rosary for our country!)
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To: Psycho_Bunny

What about at more vulnerable stages of human development, such as indicated in the link on post #16.


31 posted on 01/03/2009 7:15:23 PM PST by Pyro7480 (This Papist asks everyone to continue to pray the Rosary for our country!)
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To: Pyro7480

We need to see if all the dems drink the SAME bottled water, we could have fun with that fer shur!


32 posted on 01/03/2009 7:15:45 PM PST by DBrow
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To: Pyro7480

That’s a very different story. Personally, I think it’s a serious problem but, I base my knowledge of the subject on what could be biased, or selective studies.


33 posted on 01/03/2009 7:23:54 PM PST by Psycho_Bunny (ALSO SPRACH ZEROTHUSTRA)
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To: marajade

Not a joke. There is direct evidence in fish.


34 posted on 01/03/2009 7:47:07 PM PST by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: Pyro7480

The epidemic of diabetes appears to be linked to the presence of Persistent Organic Pollutants—i.e., The Pill and some other pharmaceuticals.

I’m ready to join a class-action suit against the Pill makers, because of their reckless, negligent activity.


35 posted on 01/03/2009 8:50:54 PM PST by Arthur McGowan
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To: marajade

Not a joke.


36 posted on 01/03/2009 8:51:47 PM PST by Arthur McGowan
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To: Arthur McGowan

There’s actually going to be a class-action lawsuit???


37 posted on 01/03/2009 8:53:10 PM PST by Pyro7480 (This Papist asks everyone to continue to pray the Rosary for our country!)
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To: eclecticEel

Don’t worry: If you like contraception, you can ignore science. If you load your body up with artificial hormones, it’s perfectly safe as long as your body knows you’re doing it for contraceptive purposes.


38 posted on 01/03/2009 8:54:17 PM PST by Arthur McGowan
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To: Pyro7480

Not that I know of. I’m ready to join, though, if someone announces one.

It isn’t just water you drink. You absorb more pollutants through your skin when showering or bathing than you do from drinking water.

I’d like to see the stats on the incidence of various disorders, like diabetes, in places where the people are bathing in and drinking water that is certifiably free of hormones, POPs, etc.


39 posted on 01/03/2009 8:59:15 PM PST by Arthur McGowan
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To: DBrow

This issue with contraceptives is that the hormones are synthetic. The synthetic version of oesterone is “ethinyl oestradiol” and has been found in male river fish to wreak havoc his (ahem) male-ness.

Likewise, the synthetic version of progesterone is called progestin and is a major player in breast cancer.


40 posted on 01/03/2009 9:05:21 PM PST by littlehouse36
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