- Water companies have been asked to examine ways of removing
traces of the female contraceptive pill from sewage effluent after the
publication of widespread evidence of sex changes in river fish.
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- An Environment Agency survey of 1,500 fish in 42 rivers
in England found more than a third of males exhibiting female characteristics.
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- Male fish with advanced changes in their sexual organs
are unable to reproduce, with potentially serious implications for fish
populations, said the agency.
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- The latest stage of a 20-year investigation showed that
the feminising effects in fish were directly related to their exposure
to effluent - in which the Pill was 1,000 times more powerful than natural
oestrogens.
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- Women excrete hormones naturally and these find their
way into the system.
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- Andrew Skinner, of the Environment Agency, said: "Customers
pay water companies to dispose of their sewage and waste water safely,
in a way that does not damage the environment."
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- © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2004.
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- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/07
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