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The Pill as an ED
One endocrine disrupter(EDs), which is being found in American
waterways, is synthetic estrogen. Articles as early as 2002, according
to the Environmental Health News
archives, begin showing that synthetic estrogens are showing up in
cleaned wastewater. Estrogens are not used in pesticides, and usually
one must ingest a synthetic estrogen to feel its effects. For example
when women took DES, as fully explored in the Our Stolen Future section, the effects were to themselves and their unborn children. So, how is synthetic
estrogen getting into the water supply? Think of the number of women
taking birth control pills or other forms of hormone controlling
contraception, estimated in 2000 at roughly 5.6 million in America
alone (Johns Hopkins).
Think about it 5.6 million women take synthetic estrogen everyday, and
everyday that synthetic estrogen is used by the body and then excre ted.
Wastewater plants do not help the situation; instead they tend to make
it worse.
It is scientifically proven that when a woman takes
the pill it passes through her body through her kidneys where an extra
sugar is added, rendering the active ingredients within the pill
inactive. In wastewater treatment plants bacteria are used as one of
the many steps to help decontaminate the water. When these bacteria
come in contact with the inactive remnants of the pill and its extra
sugar, the bacteria eat away at this extra sugar, making the pill's
ingredients active again. Synthetic estrogen is being cycled through
women's bodies being excreted into wastewater, where it once again
becomes active. Current wastewater methods do not account for the
problem of pharmaceuticals in the water. These medications are not
filtered out, and therefore can reappear in aquatic habitats and even
drinking water. The scale of these ramifications is currently not
known. The reason I'm focusing on the birth control pill is because of
its unique place as an endocrine disrupter. Like other disrupters,
which seem to be used simply because they are more cost-effective, the
pill provides a service to women that most are not willingly going to
give up. This is therefore a more complicated version of the story of
endocrine disrupters and will need more technical rather than policy
solutions. To further explore these problems, we will explore the
history and development of the pill, examine case studies of aquatic
habitats and possible human connections, and finally look for solution
to the problem not only of synthetic estrogens but EDs as a whole.
For Further reading on how a woman's cycle works on and off the pill, visit this website
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Last updated: 5/2/2006
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