I remember when...

I remember when I used to work at AA, I would read the paper in the morning to keep abreast of events to chat with my customers. There came a point when I had to stop because I would get sick, I started to notice that I would get headaches and after time I had stop reading the paper because I could not handle my stress levels seeing the mess the world was in, and that was before 9/11. I reduced my reading to once a week on Sunday's. I would get the Miami Herald in Spanish and English to stay on top of the politics around the world since my job entailed meeting Heads of States throughout the world. I find myself now reading again and I am shocked at what happens on a daily basis and people around the world continue to go about their business without them being affected by the atrocities that happen everyday. Why do we as a society turn the cheek and let things happen? Do we not think that eventually it will catch with to us? One of todays photographs in the paper, the photo on the left are pills! The last few weeks there have been articles about gelatin pills made with toxic substances, this photo is someone trying to get rid of the proof, in to the water no less!!!!!!! How stupid, for those of you that know me you know I loath the word stupid, but in this case there is not other adjective. The next article: "polluters under scrutiny" in this article it lists the more than 1000 companies that have been reported for pollution. www.Hebei.com.cn.
I remember meeting a gentleman that works in Miami for the government and for Florida's waterways. Matt told me that the pills that run though our water is changing the environment in the ocean, even changing sea life! Think about that next time you have a glass of water! I am getting carried away, but my point is that eventually whether you are in China, the U.S. or anywhere, it affects us all!!!!! The other heart breaking story that hits all to close to home, Over 2,500 in Guangdong years 14 and under have been sexually harassed. I looked to see if I could find anything on the sexual abuse of girls worldwide and nothing of recent has been published! A Shame, isn't it?
So I will leave you with an article about waters being attacked by pills and some photos I shot last night, my poor husband kept me company for 2 1/2 hours walking around the city looking for things to shoot. Good morning to all! :-) Oh and I shot some frogs in the morning!

SAN FRANCISCO, California -- Oral contraceptives often take the blame for estrogen pollution in rivers, lakes, and reservoirs, but a new meta-study from researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, reports that oral contraceptives are not the source of most of the estrogens found in waterways Environ. Sci. Technol., DOI: 10.1021/es1014482).

Estrogen in water has raised concerns because, in laboratory and field tests, the synthetic estrogen found in birth control pills disrupts reproduction in several fish species, such as the South European roach (Rutilus rutilus). The hormone can trigger male fish to develop female reproductive organs and to produce eggs. And researchers have connected estrogens in drinking water to human fertility problems and cancers.

Nearly 11 million American women use oral contraceptives, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit organization that researches sexual and reproductive issues. Most contraceptives contain a mixture of synthetic estrogen and progestin. These chemicals flow into wastewater treatment systems via urine and feces.

But estrogen-like chemicals also enter waterways from other sources, such as large-scale animal farms, landfills, and non-birth-control pharmaceuticals. Also, people of both sexes and all ages excrete natural estrogens.

To better understand the sources of estrogens in drinking water, UC San Francisco postdoctoral fellow Amber Wise and her colleagues reviewed 82 studies. Using the data they gathered, the researchers estimated that ethinylestradiol, the most commonly used synthetic estrogen in the birth control pill, likely accounts for less than 1% of the total estrogens excreted by Americans. In addition, the researchers found evidence for other estrogen sources that could play an important role in contaminating surface waters.

For example, according to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, American health care providers wrote 43 million prescriptions for hormone-replacement therapy in 2007. Hormone-replacement therapies contain conjugated equine estrogens, which have been shown to induce estrogenic effects in fish at low concentrations. Some cancer treatments and veterinary medicines also contain estrogens.

Meanwhile, scientists have measured large quantities of estrogens produced by plants in wastewater streams near soy-milk and biodiesel factories.

The UC San Francisco researchers also found that runoff from large animal farms could contribute to waterway contamination, in part because – unlike household waste – livestock effluents are untreated. A study conducted in the United Kingdom estimated that even if only 1% of the estrogens produced by farm animals reached waterways, they would make up 15% of the estrogens in the water. The data suggest that animal farm runoff should be treated before being released into the environment, Wise says.

Karen Kidd, a biologist at the University of New Brunswick in Canada, says that in addition to estrogens, chemicals that interfere with testosterone probably contribute to feminizing male fish in some rivers.

"What happens in the fish will really depend on the total mixture that they are being exposed to," she says.

But Wise says that there are still many suspected estrogenic chemicals that researchers do not check for in drinking water: "We don't even know exactly what chemicals to watch for, much less where they're all coming from."