Word: ddt
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...according to a new, heavily promoted book, there is powerful evidence to support another hypothesis. Our Stolen Future (Dutton; $24.95) says a wide range of reproduction-related ills may be caused by chemical pollutants in the environment, including DDT, some forms of dioxins and PCBs, and a number of other synthetic substances. The idea is that exposure to even traces of these chemicals in the womb can interfere with proper development of the reproductive system, leading to serious consequences years or decades later. Male infertility is just one part of the problem, say the authors; these pollutants may also...
These conditions can be improved with modern technology. The Indian government has sent hundreds of tons of DDT to kill the fleas. Workers are clearing the piles of garbage. The hospitals order by e-mail millions of tablets of antibiotics. Under treatment, the 50% survival rate of the plague increases to almost...
Finally, several hormone-related human disorders, including low sperm counts, testicular and breast cancers and endometriosis (a painful condition in which uterine cells migrate to other parts of the pelvic area), have arguably been on the rise in the decades since DDT, dioxin and the like first entered the food chain. Says Thomas Burke of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health: "What we have now is identification of a potential hazard, and that's all we have. What the implications are we don't know yet, and we need to clarify that...
...discussing the problems Colborn and others had found in animals exposed to chemicals -- thyroid damage, immune deficiencies, sexual abnormalities -- a pattern emerged. Most of the problems involved malfunctions of the endocrine system that is responsible for producing hormones. Among the chemicals fingered by the group as probable culprits were DDT, kepone, triazine herbicides, certain PCBs and dioxins, styrenes and the alkyl phenols found in some detergents and plastics...
...country," says Colborn. As the researchers compared notes, the evidence began to mount. During the mid-1980s, Colborn learned, mortality rates for alligator eggs in Lake Apopka, Florida, soared to 96%, in contrast to 57% in most Florida lakes. The almost certain cause: a 1980 chemical spill that included DDT. In 1993 researchers found that terns in PCB-contaminated Buzzard's Bay, Massachusetts, had reproductive-tract abnormalities including the presence of ovarian cells in male birds. Earlier studies had found similar problems with birds in California and the upper Midwest...