Microbiological Impacts And Impact Of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals

From 1947 to 1977, these two plants legally discharged from 500,000 to 1.5 million pounds of PCBs into the Hudson, and unknowingly saturated the bedrock beneath both sites with at least that much again. There are PCBs in Hudson River water, biota, and sediment from Hudson Falls to New York City - 200 miles that comprise the nations largest Superfund site. Pure PCBs are oozing out of the bedrock to this day, constantly recontaminating the river and over 300,000 pounds remain concentrated in bottom sediments of the river today. The spread of PCBs throughout the Hudson River and the food chain, which it supports, has created one of the most extensive hazardous waste problems in the nation. Polychlorinated biphenyl’s (PCBs) are a group of synthetic oil-like chemicals (therefore insoluble in water) of the organochlorine family. Until their toxic nature was recognized and their use was banned in the 1970s, they were widely used as insulation in electrical equipment, particularly transformers. Reputable chemists have since concluded, “it was probably a mistake ever to make or use PCBs.” These are serious poisons, which have been shown to cause damage to the reproductive, neurological and immune systems of wildlife and humans and are known to cause cancer. Exposure has also been linked to behavioral damage. Specifically, because PCBs in the body mimic estrogen, women of childbearing age and their infants are particularly susceptible

Effects on the local Great Lake biosphere have accumulations of toxins within the food chain. For instance, fish. Consuming a large amount of fish exposed to these toxic chemicals can expose you to DDT, dioxin, and PCVs, these chemicals are known for being carcinogenic, and can cause neurological disorders and a weakened immune system. Being exposed to the Water by swimming can also cause immune problems if swallowed. These chemicals also are known for causing skin cancer if exposed to the external body.

The decisions that Gina McCarthy, the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, makes have a direct impact on the health of the nation. Gina and her agency ensure the safety and cleanliness of the environment through standard setting, monitoring levels of chemicals and pollutants, and making sure these standards are enforced throughout all levels of industry. One group of industrial chemicals that have been receiving attention recently are the environmental endocrine disrupters (EED), such as DDT and Bispehnol A, that can be found in a wide range of products that Americans use in their everyday life. From household cleaners, food and beverage containers, beauty products, and even children’s toys, these chemicals are widely

The purpose of this article is to explain an investigation attempting to correlate negative behavioral effects observed in adult male fighting fish, Betta splendens, with exposure to waterborne phytoestrogens. The phytoestrogens the B. splendens were exposed to were genistein, equol, β-sitosterol, and 17 β-estradiol. Behavioral effects of exposure were analyzed by monitoring spontaneous swimming movements, amount of time it took to react to an alleged intruder, amount of aggression toward that alleged intruder, likelihood of building a nest whilst among a female B. splendens and the area of said nest. This study was conducted given there has been no research done on the behavioral biomarkers resulting from waterborne phytoestrogens as an environmental contaminant to aquatic species, even though these animals are the highest probability of experiencing phytoestrogen exposure in their natural habitats. Additionally, when considering phytoestrogens’ ability to cause reproductive and developmental malfunction in fishes, waterborne phytoestrogen’s presence in sewage treatment plants’ liquid waste, runoff from agricultural areas utilizing manure and wood pulp mills ' liquid waste is concerning.

The last endocrine disrupting chemical I will discuss is Triclosan. The chemical found in Triclosan is Triclocarban. The products that contain this endocrine disruptor are personal care products and antimicrobial products such as soaps and Colgate Total toothpaste. In (Greenfield’s 2016) view, "The effects Triclosan has on animal and human tissue is early puberty, poor sperm quality, infertility, obesity, cancer, impaired learning and memory exacerbate allergies and weakened muscle function." Even though most people try to prevent the health issues associated with Triclosan, the chemical is still exposable because of the people that still use it. For example, once the toothpaste is used it goes down the drain which is connected to the waterways, food, and environment. In addition, Triclosan is in the toothpaste Colgate Total which makes it a dangerous product but it is very successful and would take a lot to get it took off the market completely to prevent health issues.

Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that may meddle with the body's endocrine system and deliver unfavorable formative, conceptive, neurological, and invulnerable impacts in the two people and natural life. Natural and manmade substances cause endocrine disruption such as dioxin-like compounds and other pesticides. Plastic bottles, laundry detergents, soap detergents, metal canned foods and a few other products may contain endocrine disruptors. What endocrine disruptors do is imitate the normally happening hormones inside the body such as androgens, estrogens and thyroid hormones causing them to over stimulate. While doing some research of my own on endocrine disruptors I found an article that talks about endocrine disruptors causing weight

How are humans exposed to endocrine disrupting chemicals? God has created our bodies wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14), which we depend on a good, healthy, and functioning body that has an endocrine system. This endocrine system regulates and releases various hormones that are critical for various functions such as our growth and development, our metabolism, and for essential sleep that produces a healthy mood that comes from a healthy mind. When EDCs expose our precious bodies, eventually, the bodies will have critical and severe difficult health issues. Humans and animals are exposed EDCs by contacting in various ways and routes. Being exposed by the consumption of contaminated food and water is more is critical. Exposing through contact with

Dating back to the 1970s when people began to realize the toxic effects pollutants like PCBs and DDT were having on all kinds of organisms, marine mammals came into focus as particularly vulnerable and at risk for adverse health effects with exposure to these contaminants. Since then researchers have worked to determine exactly what harm these animals are succumbing to. The chemical properties of persistent organic pollutants along with the biomagnification of organochlorines through the trophic levels and the bioaccumulation of these chemicals in the blubber of marine mammals, explain why these animals are significantly affected by these hazardous chemicals. Bioaccumulation can also explain important trends in PCBs and DDT concentrations

Fry and Toone (1986) found when they inject fertilised seabird eggs with DDT and its metabolites. The male chicks produced have varying degrees of intersexuality depending on dosage, reproductive system with both male and female structures. The female chicks had a partial to full developed right oviducts, instead of just left functional structures. In the area where the eggs were collected, there was multiple female-female pairing and low hatchability of eggs. Males exposed as embryos to estrogenic pesticides showed decreased to no sexual behaviour. (Fry and Toone, 1981) Louis Guillette noticed that male alligators from Lake Apopka in Florida have vestigial penis, follicle-like testis and elevated estrogens/testosterone ratios and the female hatching’s ovaries were producing multiple egg follicles and eggs with several nuclei (Luoma, 1995, Guillette et al., 1995) The females also had above normal estrogens levels. When he and his colleagues did a similar injection study with DDT and DDE, they produced results similar to those found in the field. The reduction in penis length and the abnormal gonads made the hatchlings reproductively incapable. Both the bird and alligator studies were prompted by the contamination of large water bodies by organochlorins and the low breeding success of the animals living and feeding in these areas.

Direct human poisoning is only a part of the danger of pesticide use. The toxic effects of pesticides are felt throughout the environment as well. Improperly used or disposed of pesticides that enter the waterways through runoff can cause substantial fish kills . Wild animals, domestic livestock, and birds also consume pesticides by eating smaller animals or vegetation in which toxic chemicals persist. The poison moves up the food chain in this manner and is often eventually ingested by humans .

Endocrine disruptors are described as “chemicals that may interfere with the body’s endocrine system and produce adverse developmental, reproductive, neurological, and immune effects in both humans and wildlife.” I read in the article related to this assignment that Congress amended “the Food Quality Protection Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act in 1996 to require the Environmental Protection Agency to develop a plan and establish priorities to test thousands of chemicals for their potential to disrupt endocrine systems”. We need to protect our drinking water because Endocrine disruptors could be effecting it and making people sick The precautionary principle is the principle that if something could be bad don't do it. A criticism of the

Many scientific researchers have said that our environment has been filled with toxic chemicals, which us humans have had a part of. There are many different issues that should concern us surrounding these toxic chemicals. The major concern is that many of these toxic chemicals have been claimed to be causing damage to the health of humans and even other life forms. Another concern is that most of the theses toxic chemicals have just recently been produced; and by our environment changing everyday there is no telling what effects these toxic chemicals may have in the long run on the public 's health. Just about all of these toxic chemicals exist in the way they do because of humans. As humans we practice a lot of different activities that cause toxic chemicals to pollute our environment such as, agriculture, industrial, and many domestic activities as well. Many of the toxic chemicals that we produce and use don 't get used in a effective way, which causes them to be wasted, left abandoned, and disposed of. When toxic chemicals are not disposed of properly they effect the environment and the public 's health in a negative way.

Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) are persistent pollutants of worldwide concerns owing to their environmental persistence, bioaccumulation and magnification ability in the food chain and potential toxicity in humans and wildlife (Jones and de Voogt, 1999).These chemicals can enter the aquatic environment and can be transported into the food chains and accumulated in

Pharmaceutical drugs have been beneficial to our modern society, but a consequence of their manufacturing is that numerous pharmaceutical industries are simultaneously releasing toxic compounds in the environment. Due to the manufacturing of several pharmaceutical industries, it generated huge quantities of wastes in the water, which directly affected the aquatic organisms (Patneedi et al. 2015). It has been over four decades since the discovery of pharmaceutical drugs in the water, but only in the last decade has there been increasing concerns about active pharmaceutical contaminants in waste-water effluents (Patneedi et al. 2015). Pharmaceuticals are one of the emerging organic contaminants (EOCs) detected in water systems

In 1980, a chemical spill in the area nearly decimated the American Alligator population of Lake Apopka and resulted in a multitude of negative effects years afterword from which the population has not yet fully recovered (Arcand-Hoy and Benson, 1998). This is primarily blamed on the long-term effects of endocrine disruptors that were introduced into the system. Either by mimicking natural hormones and binding to hormone receptors, or by blocking the binding of natural hormones to hormone receptors, endocrine disruptors are able to alter how natural hormones are produced and used (Oberdorster and Cheek, 2011). Because hormones are responsible for maintaining many bodily functions, changing hormonal concentrations will disturb the body’s natural balance and produce abnormal morphological changes to hormone-dependent organs (Arcand-Hoy and Benson, 1998).