From: Oz <Oz@upthorpe.demon.co.uk>
Newsgroups: sci.agriculture,talk.environment,alt.save.the.earth,
	alt.org.sierra-club
Subject: Re: Threat from estrogenic mimics for real?
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1998 06:49:49 +0000

In article <72n61b$37p$1@fir.prod.itd.earthlink.net>, Michael M Milligan
<mmmilligan@earthlink.net> writes

>Can anyone tell me the current state of debate over man-made (and, for
>that matter, natural ) estrogenic mimics? Are they really the threat
>some have speculated or just another bit of alarmism? Any good
>research coming down the pikes concerning them?

High estrogens in soya baby milk HAVE caused concern and are NOT
recommended by the UK government unless there is a medical condition
precluding the use of conventional (cows) baby milk. I did have a URL
for this but doubtless you could find it in a search.

Generally estrogens in normal foods are vastly (like thousands of times)
higher and vastly more active than the 'accidental' estrogen mimics and
their activity has been known for centuries. Farmers do not graze their
sheep on high legume swards at tupping time because the estrogens are
often high enough to prevent cycling. Most legumes have significant
estrogen content to the extent that in europe (where feeding artificial
hormones is banned) the use of soya in pig and poultry diets produces an
'extra growth effect' so work it out for yourself.

As far as I am aware the few compounds that had any effect (and it was
small anyway) have been effectively banned for some time in europe.

Mind you with a significant amount of the human female population
excreting large amounts of highly biologically active estrogens more-or-
less permanently it's not surprising that fish and other organisms
downstream of sewage outfalls should be showing some effects. However
for some reason it seems politically incorrect to mention this obvious
fact.

--
Oz