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THE contraceptive pill is polluting the environment and is in part responsible for male infertility, a report in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano said today. 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. "We are faced with a clear anti-environmental effect which demands more explanation on the part of the manufacturers," Mr Castellvi said. 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", said Flavia Franconi, of the Society of Italian Pharmacology. Pope Benedict XVI in October reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church's condemnation of artificial birth control. Contraception "means negating the intimate truth of conjugal love, with which the divine gift (of life) is communicated", the leader of the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics wrote on the 40th anniversary of a papal encyclical on the topic. An encyclical is a letter usually treating some aspect of Catholic doctrine and issued occasionally by the pope. The landmark document, whose title in English is On the Regulation of Birth, was published at a time when the development of the pill was giving new sexual freedom to women across the world. Millions of Catholics distanced themselves from Rome as a result.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,24871312-36398,00.html

Doesn't seem totally surprising. Female hormones are in plastics and all kinds of stuff these days. The scientists would have known about this for sure. Makes you wonder if they were working for the groups that want drastic population reduction in order to enjoy the planet for their benefit and theirs alone.

Where is that from?

There are definitely issues with hormones from contraceptives affecting fish gender balance, especially in the mediterranean. But this is the first I've heard it implicated in male infertility. Maybe their wives are just on the pill. In any case I wouldn't trust the vatican for scientific advice.

This applies to all sorts of medications, including antibiotics, which affect many of us, but all these pale into insignificance when we compare it to the mercury in fish.

How do the poor fish cope with all those chemicals?

If anything could affect male fertility, it would be the hormones in chicken flesh.  They might even use hormones in beef.  What about imported meat - pork, chicken etc. The A & NZ food standard board is so tolerant, who knows what's in these products.

There are people in shadowy organisations who want to reduce the global population to something like 200 million, have them all as slave workers, so they can enjoy the planet for themselves in its' natural state, whilst the serfs work and toil all day for their benefit.

I don't doubt we are being over exposed to hormones. It is making the women more feminine (look at the size of tits on Asian girls these days) and the men more feminine (look at the rising incidents of male fertility issues, and potentially homosexuality, although some people will say that is just because people are more open about it now).

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It is making the women more feminine (look at the size of tits on Asian girls these days) and the men more feminine (look at the rising incidents of male fertility issues, and potentially homosexuality, although some people will say that is just because people are more open about it now).

You might have a point Easel, although I've always blamed the chicken for the extra hormones afflicting our youth.  

If there was some global order that was intent on reducing the population - and I quite believe some of those at the top of the heap want this - wouldn't it be quicker to get rid of people through malnutrition and war which is an ongoing popular process.

But you've got to remember that our previous government who may have been privy to this plan to reduce the global population, encouraged us to have more and more babies - hence the baby bonus.

Good points mantra. I've argued against non organic chicken for years now, purely on hormones, not animal rights/ethics.

The main population reduction in the western world would be easier through homosexuality and infertility. The second/third world they can take care of through man made disease and pandemics, or the IMF and World Bank can go hard and destroy the food supplies and job networks, which they are doing at the moment anyway.

What a load of papal bull.

Never let the facts get in the way of a good story. Men in their 20's have a far higher natural oestrogen level than women in their 40's. This has always been the case.

The person who said that the metabolite is ineffective is quite correct.  

I read maybe a month or two ago that Australian wildlife are having problems with fertility, hermaphroditism, and other such things, due to higher than natural levels of oestrogen in the environment because of such things as animal feed, plastics and potentially the contraceptive pill.

easel wrote on Jan 5^th, 2009 at 5:02am:

There are people in shadowy organisations who want to reduce the global population to something like 200 million, have them all as slave workers, so they can enjoy the planet for themselves in its' natural state, whilst the serfs work and toil all day for their benefit. I don't doubt we are being over exposed to hormones. It is making the women more feminine (look at the size of tits on Asian girls these days) and the men more feminine (look at the rising incidents of male fertility issues, and potentially homosexuality, although some people will say that is just because people are more open about it now).

A global population of 200 million makes sense to me, however the serf/master thing doesn't follow by necessity. Sound like science fiction.

Oh, and yes I read in a popular science journal, about 6-7 years ago the problems being encountered amongst amphibians and in particular aligators with chemicals and estrogens interferring with the sex balance in the Everglades. There was real concern that populations could not be maintained without human intervention.

easel wrote on Jan 5^th, 2009 at 6:50pm:

I read maybe a month or two ago that Australian wildlife are having problems with fertility, hermaphroditism, and other such things, due to higher than natural levels of oestrogen in the environment because of such things as animal feed, plastics and potentially the contraceptive pill.

Yeah, there is a problem with aquatic organisms and hermaphrodism. I'm not an expert, but it has something to do with the fact that they live in water polluted with traces of estradiol in certain parts of the world. It affects the development of sexual organs. I'm aware of that problem. If you found references to anything other than fish or amphibians, I'd be interested, if not astounded.

The problem is that people tend to oversimplify these reports. It's a bit like the stupid urban legend that was going around a few years ago about soy products making people gay  ;D

Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.

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I'm not an expert, but it has something to do with the fact that they live in water polluted with traces of estradiol in certain parts of the world. It affects the development of sexual organs. I'm aware of that problem. If you found references to anything other than fish or amphibians, I'd be interested, if not astounded.

I read it was effecting koalas and other marsupials. Don't forget water is the life blood of any environment.


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serf/master thing doesn't follow by necessity. Sound like science fiction.

A lot of people crave power and control, either for their own ego, or because they 'know better' than the people.

Muso said

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The problem is that people tend to oversimplify these reports. It's a bit like the stupid urban legend that was going around a few years ago about soy products making people gay

Blast. And here I was consuming soy products in the hope of expanding my sexual horizons. Sorry guys I'm off the market. :P

If homosexuality is in the brain, then after the brain is fully developed, oestrogens shouldn't be able to change the brain towards being gay, just maybe make your skin softer and less body hair?

I don't know.

I read that with rat studies, if they inject newborn males with oestrogen, and females with testosterone, when they grow up, the girls think they are boys and the boys think they are girls, in regards to sexual behaviour.

Goes back to that theory;

Too much oestrogen on a male foetus = girly gay

Too much testosterone on a male foetus = butch gay

Too much testosterone on a female foetus = gay

Now, as the brain is not fully developed until the early 20's, you would think perhaps hormones could change it somehow, but you would probably want to get in before puberty, I don't know.

Then again, taking hormones is not a good idea, can cause atrophy of sexual organs, wreck thyroid, pituitary gland.

easel wrote on Jan 6^th, 2009 at 12:35pm:

I read it was effecting koalas and other marsupials. Don't forget water is the life blood of any environment.

See if you can find the source. It doesn't ring true, especially with koalas and other marsupials which don't drink much. It's a question of dose. Not all water sources contain estradiol by any stretch of the imagination - it's mainly in places where there is recycled sewage effluent etc.

Something about plastics leeching hormones in to the environment also, and animal feeds.

I think it was in the mX, that free NewsLimited rag they give out in the Sydney CBD every arvo, especially around train stations.

You are right they don't drink much, but doesn't everything living contain water? So the gumleaves would contain water, etc, drawn up from the water table, and if the water table is contaminated, well, then it's going to get in to the plants.

And yeah some plants do contain phytoestrogens or whatever the thing is. Soy is one of them, peanuts contain it also. Not sure if the levels are anything to worry about though.

easel wrote on Jan 6^th, 2009 at 3:54pm:

Something about plastics leeching hormones in to the environment also, and animal feeds. I think it was in the mX, that free NewsLimited rag they give out in the Sydney CBD every arvo, especially around train stations. You are right they don't drink much, but doesn't everything living contain water? So the gumleaves would contain water, etc, drawn up from the water table, and if the water table is contaminated, well, then it's going to get in to the plants.

Right. That would be Bisphenol A related I'd say. That has nothing to do with estradiol and the contraceptive pill. Estradiol affects aquatic organisms, whereas Bisphenol A affects any organisms that are exposed to it through plastics etc. It's normally associated with polycarbonate bottles and teh polycarbonate lining in cans. That's the one that's commonly associated with dropping sperm counts etc. Bisphenol A is an oestrogen mimic. If you want to avoid it, don't eat canned foods or drink from bottles labelled with plastics code 7.  

Bisphenol A has a much greater effect worldwide than the contraceptive pill. Last time I was in the Vatican City, they were selling drinks in polycarbonate bottles. It's all just a Catholic plot to ban contraceptives, I tell you  :D