General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The medications that change who we are [View all]HAB911
(8,890 posts)as fresh water becomes more scarce and municipalities turn to highly treated waste water to supplement fresh, we all begin consuming other's drugs. From estrogen to viagra. ENJOY
https://www.tampabay.com/opinion/letters/Saturday-s-letters-Health-risks-of-reclaimed-water_164824277/
First, reclaimed water contains estrogen, the female hormone, no matter the degree of disinfection. Male frogs raised in reclaimed water take on female characteristics and those of hermaphrodites and intersex frogs.
Second, reclaimed water contains endocrine disrupting chemicals, or EDCs. These also cannot be removed by disinfection. The research of Laura Vandenberg at the University of Massachusetts has focused on how fetal chemical exposures can produce birth defects and how early life exposures to chemicals and chemical mixtures can predispose individuals to diseases that manifest later in life. She found that EDCs change the level of hormones in the human bloodstream and can be especially dangerous to pregnant women because the hormone levels in the mother's blood regulate the development of the child. For example, EDCs inhibit the production of the thyroid hormone, which in an expecting mother alters the development of the child's brain, resulting in impaired cognitive ability.