By DAVID DISHNEAU, Associated Press Writer Tue Jan 23, 6:58 PM ET

SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. - Scientists studying intersex fish in the Potomac River basin have found the abnormality for the first time in redbreast sunfish, the third species affected by the mysterious phenomenon, a federal fish pathologist said Tuesday.

The phenomenon was previously documented in smallmouth and largemouth bass in the Potomac River and some of its tributaries in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia.

Vicki Blazer of the U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Geological Survey said she verified the abnormality in sunfish last week while preparing for her talk Tuesday at the start of a three-day conference on fish kills in the six-state Chesapeake Bay watershed. The conference was sponsored by the Annapolis-based Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

The incidence of intersex in male smallmouth bass has been as high as 100 percent in some sample areas studied by Blazer and her colleagues. Largemouth bass have had a lesser incidence of intersex, Blazer said.

Blazer said intersex and fish kills may be related because many of the killed fish appear to have had suppressed immune systems. There is increasing evidence that immune cells and disease resistance are affected by contaminants including chemical compounds that stimulate estrogen production, Blazer said.

"My guess is, is it‘s a mixture of things, but that‘s still what we have to figure out," Blazer said.

"We‘re operating in the dark, but maybe not as much in the dark as we were 10 years ago," he said.
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U.S. Geological Survey: http://www.usgs.gov

Source: http://www.localnews...i...ws&id=49887

You'd be surprised at the quantity of synthetic estrogenic compounds entering streams from wastewater treatment plants. The hormones in birth control pills are very stable molecules and appear to have influence in natural streams at concentrations in the parts per billion that were impossible to measure until recently. I have a bad feeling that this is a problem that will only get worse.

Have any studies been done to document whether these problems are worse close to wastewater treatment plants? Or perhaps factories where these chemicals are produced (if any such factories exist in the affected watershed)?

It is interesting that the above says only three species (including red breast suns) have been found like this. Actually many more have been identified and reported. Intersex Shortnose sturgeon, White perch and a few sucker species have also been documented for the Potomac drainage.

Really? I didn't know that, I was only aware of the two black basses and now the redbreast.

Have any studies been done to document whether these problems are worse close to wastewater treatment plants? Or perhaps factories where these chemicals are produced (if any such factories exist in the affected watershed)?

Yes, the original research documenting intersex fish was done in England and explicity tested relationships to wastewater treatment plants by putting trout in cage enclosures just downstream from several of these plants. Male trout held in these enclosures were highly likely to develop feminized reproductive traits such as producing vitellogenin, a protein only used in developing eggs and, to a lesser degree, the development of functional ovaries. Male trout held in cages upstream from wastewater treatment plants show no such effects. A researcher by the name of J.P. Sumpter has been working on this question since at least the early 1990s. Two references of his work are:

Jobling, S., S. Coey, J. G. Whitmore, D. E. Kime, K. J. Van Look, B. G. McAllister, N. Beresford, A. C. Henshaw, G. Brighty, C. R. Tyler, and J. P. Sumpter. 2002. Wild intersex roach (Rutilus rutilus) have reduced fertility. Biol. Reprod, 67:515-524;
Jobling, S., M. Nolan, C. R. Tyler, G. Brighty, and J. P. Sumpter. 1998. Widespread sexual disruption in wild fish. Environ. Sci. Technol, 32:2498-2506.

The short answer as to what is happening is that it seems that the steady steram of endocrine disrupting estrogen-mimics in our sewerage have synergistic effects on fish (at least), in poorly-understood ways. The biochemistry is fascinating, the effects are scary.

Really? I didn't know that, I was only aware of the two black basses and now the redbreast.

I do not have the Citations at hand for the White perch and sucker species, this is the one for the Shortnose sturgeon:

Synchronous Hermaphroditism and Self-Fertilization in a Captive Shortnose Sturgeon
James P. Henne, Kent M. Ware, William R. Wayman, Robert S. Bakal, Ákos Horváth
Transactions of the American Fisheries Society
Volume 135, Issue 1 (January 2006) pp. 55–60

Evidently this issue doesn't just apply to fishes. This article might actually motivate politicians to do something about this.... His name was Robert Paulson!

http://www.timesonli...2569942,00.html

Evidently this issue doesn't just apply to fishes. This article might actually motivate politicians to do something about this.... His name was Robert Paulson!

http://www.timesonli...2569942,00.html

do you have another link that one isnt working for me....

Here's the new link -- sorry about that!

http://www.timesonli...icle1267585.ece

Men with ‘moobs’ swell queues for breast surgery
Sarah-Kate Templeton, Health Correspondent

MEN are turning to cosmetic surgery to tackle the embarrassment of “man breasts”, fuelling a near doubling in the number of people sculpting their bodies through liposuction.

Surgeons have reported a surge in the number of men requesting breast-reduction operations for ‘moobs’. According to one theory, the condition, called gynaecomastia, may be caused by an excess of female hormones in tap water.

The boom in demand for liposuction is revealed in an audit by the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS). Figures to be published this week show 4,000 operations were carried out last year, compared with 2,100 in 2005.

The procedure, which involves vacuuming fat from areas including the thighs and “love handles”, has jumped from the eighth to the third most popular operation.

Adam Searle, consultant plastic surgeon and former president of BAAPS, said: “Men come along and say, ‘I am in the gym all the time. I have these lovely pecs but the fat on the side of the flank will not budge. Some feel the male breast can respond well to liposuction.”

Recent holiday photographs of Tony Blair and David Cameron indicate they are developing man breasts.

Searle said liposuction was becoming more refined and was being applied in new ways. However, he warned that it is not an alternative to losing weight.

He added: “There are lots of misconceptions about liposuction. Every week, someone comes into a clinic weighing 25 stone and wanting liposuction. This technique is not appropriate for the obese.

“It should be reserved for very specific areas of fat in an otherwise fit person. The ideal candidate would be a woman who says, ‘I go to the gym, I have lost weight but this area on the side of my thigh refuses to go’. Or the man who has been training hard but cannot get rid of the extra fat on his breasts.”

Overall, leading plastic surgeons carried out 31% more cosmetic surgery operations last year than in 2005. Demand also increased for brow lifts, which saw a 50% rise, eyelid surgery, up 48%, tummy tucks, up 47% and face and neck lifts, up 44%.

The most popular procedure continues to be breast enlargement. The increasing demand for breast implants was reflected last week by the launch of a new company, www.mybreast.org, specialising in the procedure. The majority of cosmetic surgery, 92%, continues to be carried out on women.

“People no longer consider plastic surgery to be wacky or just for the rich,” said Searle. “Plastic surgery is now considered to be permissible in our culture.”

Rajiv Grover, consultant plastic surgeon and BAAPS council member responsible for the UK national audit of cosmetic surgery, added, “Judging by the dramatic rise in certain procedures, it is clear we are becoming a more body-image conscious society.”