Female Eggs Found In Up To 100% Of Male Fish - Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals To Blame

Last year, a Canadian study linked BPA and other Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals in turtle eggs - causing eggs exposed to these chemicals to become female instead of male. (Read More).

The new American study found similar results occuring in the fish of protected nature refuges at an unexpected and alarming rate, up to 100%:

http://www.alternet.org/environment/female-eggs-found-male-fish-likely-due-pesticide-pollution

"Intersex occurs when one sex develops characteristics of the opposite sex. In the case of this study, researchers found testicular oocytes —female eggs found inside male testicles—in male smallmouth and largemouth bass. The study explains, “The presence of oocytes in the testes of male gonochoristic fish has been used as an indicator of estrogenic exposure.” The source of the estrogen is hard to pinpoint, but pesticides are often cited as a cause given that they widely pollute waterways that fish populate. Those chemicals have properties that disrupt the endocrine system and affect the reproductive system, causing development issues such as testicular oocytes. According to USGS, “Intersex is a global issue, as wild-caught fish affected by endocrine-disrupting chemicals have been found in locations across the world.”

Since the release of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in 1962, we have heard eerie stories about alligators with abnormal penises from exposure to DDT, amphibians with eggs in their testes from exposure to atrazine and snails turning hermaphroditic from exposure to tributyltin —all considered hard evidence for endocrine disruption.

The problem? Things are getting worse, not better; and male animals are becoming female.