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Re[2]: UK sewage effect querry
We (Greenpeace UK) have a web site on hormone disruption too, which is
worth a look:-
http://www.greenpeace.org/~uk/science
We're due to update it soon.
It's also worth noting that although the Environment Agency report
mentioned below blamed natural oestrogens - this Agency only covers
England and Wales. There is a separate Environment Agency in Scotland
(SEPA) .
SEPA published a report on Hormone Disrupting Chemicals on 4th
September. Here are some extracts from their press release:-
SEPA has published research into 2 classes of chemical compounds -
alkyl phenol ethoxylates (APEs) and phthalates. These are among a
number of substances which may be capable of producing hormone
disrupting effects.
During the summer of 1996, SEPA carried out a comprehensive survey of
the concentrations of the two groups of compounds in Scotland's major
effluent discharges. A total of 84 samples from around Scotland were
analysed ...
The survey results show that the compounds are present in some waters
which receive sewage discharges, but most were at concentration
levels which would be below the 'no effect level' However samples from
13 sites were assessed by SEPA as possibly exceeding that level at
certain times (11 for APEs and 2 for Phthalates).
Dr Gerry Best, Head of Chemistry at SEPAs WEst Region, who is playing
a leading role on this issue, said that the results must be taken in
context:
"We have found some enhanced levels of APEs and phthalates in Scottish
waters. However, there is no evidence that they are causing effects in
Scotland's environment ... we have found no effects which can be
attributed to hormone disrupting chemicals, nor are we aware of any
feminised fish in Scotland ..
However, SEPA is adopting a precautionary approach. We are actively
discussing with industry the potential for substituting these
compounds with safer alternatives which already exist in most cases.
We hope that the use of these compounds will be phased out before the
Government's target date of 2000. Industry has already made
considerable progress with product substitution ....
END
[You'll find a report in "New Scientist" (14th Sept 96 "Factories face
limits over sex-change pollution" by Rob Edwards)]
SEPA are really only at the point of identifying sources. Phasing out APEs
might be relatively easy [The English and Welsh EPA has had some success
persuading the wool scouring industry in Yorkshire to stop using APEs], but with
phthalates it will be much more difficult. In Sweden it is estimated that
between 30 and 60 tonnes of DEHP leach from PVC floors alone every year [KemI
(the Chemical Inspectorate): Additives in plastic. and IVL (The Institute for
research on Water and Air) 1996, Alternative materials to PVC.]. Clearly the
fact that phthalates are leaching out of PVC floors and other forms of soft PVC
will have to be much more widely known if we are going to tackle this problem.
_____The target date of 2000, mentioned in the above release seems to refer only
to APEs.
_________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: UK sewage effect querry
Author: sksnow@1stnet.com at Internet
Date: 21/11/96 15:22
Tony Tweedale wrote:
>
>anyone have info on the following teaser:
> 3 Financial Times November 12, 1996 Gender-bending fish
> prompt sewage probe The water industry is to research oestrogenic
> substances in sewage effluent after a study by the Environment
> Agency published yesterday showed they can make male fish generate [snipped>
due to copyright protections]
===================================
Tony and other curious persons,
Check out: Introduction to Hormone Toxicity written by Dr. Michael A.
Warhurst, formerly a professor of environmenal chemistry at the University of
Edinburgh at:
http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~mwarhurst/oestrogenic.html
also: Alkylphenolic compounds
http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~mwarhurst/ape.html
Dr. Warhurst says:
**...Alkylphenol ethoxylate surfactants (usually nonylphenol ethoxylate or
octylphenol ethoxylate were first introduced into the UK in 1944, for a wide
range of detergent and surfactant uses. In 1976 they were phased out of
domestic detergents in the UK, but they are still used by industry, and are
also used in other domestic products:
Industrial detergents, such as those used for wool washing and metal
finishing;
Domestic detergents such as clothes washing liquids (not in the UK and
most of Europe);
Some shampoos, shaving foams and other cosmetics;
Some detergent - containing petrols (and therefore in road run-off);
The spermicidal lubricant nonoxynol-9;
Various laboratory detergents, including Triton X-100;
In pesticide [herbicide inerts] formulations;
In the fuel Orimulsion.
Alkylphenols (usually nonylphenol or octylphenol)
[Also, see: http://www.endocrine.org/soto.html]
As antioxidants in some clear plastics, to prevent yellowing, in the
form of tris-nonylphenol phosphite.**
**Alkylphenol ethoxylates generally end up at sewage treatment plants, where
unfortunately they are only partially degraded, mainly to other alkylphenolic
compounds, which then enter rivers and the sea in the treated sewage. A recent
modelling study concluded that 83 % of UK nonylphenol ethoxylate production
enters the environment, with 37 % entering the aquatic environment (CES,
1993).**
**When alkylphenol ethoxylates break down in sewage treatment or a river they
produce three main groups of alkylphenolic compounds: alkylphenol ethoxylates
with fewer ethoxylate groups, alkylphenoxy carboxylic acids and
alkylphenols...Extensive research in Switzerland has shown that these compounds
persist in rivers and their sediments, and even in groundwater (e.g. Ahel et
al., 1994a, b, 1996). Any measurement of pollution in a river must measure all
these groups, otherwise only part of the pollution is being measured.
Unfortunately all measurement of levels in UK rivers has so far ignored the
alkylphenoxycarboxylic acids.**
**Alkylphenolic compounds are concentrated by organisms such as fish and
birds, leading to contamination in their internal organs between ten and
several thousand times greater than in the surrounding environment.**
Regarding where some Alkylphenols (usually nonylphenol or octylphenol)
surfacants are used in pesticide formulations, check out:
http://falk.ucdavis.edu/weeds/absorb2.htm
and: http://falk.ucdavis.edu/weeds/absorb.htm]
For example, Monsanto's Roundup --glyphosphate, is where Triton X-100 was
added.
For a summary on alkyphenols, see
http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~mwarhurst/summary.html
Dr. Warhurst writes a Special Message for the USA and Other Countries Outside
Europe http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~mwarhurst/usa.html
What does the British government have to say about these mysterious ostrogens
in sewage effluent... http://www.ends.co.uk/261020.html
Thoroughly check out Dr. Warhurst's site and recommendations. Also, check
out the Web Surfer's Guide to Hormone Disruption which begins at
http://www.wwfcanada.org/hormone-disruptors/
The known and suspected list of hormone disruptors is at:
http://www.wwfcanada.org/hormone-disruptors/list.htm
Recommended Policy and Action is located at:
http://www.wwfcanada.org/hormone-disruptors/recoms.htm
Individual actions we can all take is located at:
http://www.wwfcanada.org/hormone-disruptors/ind-act.htm
Susan Snow