Oestrogen And Our Water Supply

It seems to be fairly well known that the water supply (depending on where you live) may pose a risk to your hormones with its contaminants, namely synthetic oestrogen (or estrogen as it’s spelled in the US). In case you’re not familiar, women on the contraceptive pill pass the oestrogen in their urine which eventually makes its way to the water filtration plants that can’t extract the oestrogen from the water. Yes, it’s scary. Not only that, but there’s more oestrogen from animal waste which they pass after consuming a genetically-modified diet or one high in phytoestrogens, namely soy grains. Whilst scientists aren’t one hundred percent sure on where the oestrogen is coming from, it is present in the water and it’s causing havoc among marine life and men…

In 2008 the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) tested water in nine states across the country and found that 85 man-made chemicals, including some medications, were commonly slipping through municipal treatment systems and ending up in our tap water. Another report by the Associated Press found trace amounts of dozens of pharmaceuticals in the drinking water supplies of some 46 million Americans.

But according to USGS, such chemicals and medications are so diluted—at levels equal to a thimble full of water in an Olympic-sized swimming pool—that they do not pose a health threat. But others aren’t so sure. Researchers have found evidence that even extremely diluted concentrations of drug residues harm fish, frogs and other aquatic species, and have been shown to labs to impair human cell function.

One of the common culprits is estrogen, much of which is inadvertently released into sewers through the urine of women taking birth control. Studies have shown that estrogen can wreak reproductive havoc on some fish, which spawn infertile offspring sporting a mixture of male and female parts. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh found that human breast cancer cells grew twice as fast when exposed to estrogen taken from catfish caught near untreated sewage overflows. “There is the potential for an increased risk for those people who are prone to estrogenic cancer,” said Conrad Volz, lead researcher on the study.

Continue reading full article on Scientific American.com

You’re probably thinking that bottled water is safer than water from the mains. Yes and no! Often the plastics used in bottled water can emit oestrogen-mimicking compounds into the water, particularly when the bottles are warmed up on the back of trucks for example. As far as I’ve discovered, the safest way to consume water is to have a Reverse Osmosis Filter installed into your home (for less than a few hundred dollars) and to use BPA-free plastics or bottles to store it.