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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:navy'><a
href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=396612&in_page_id=1770">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=396612&in_page_id=1770</a></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:navy'> </span></font></p>
<h1><b><font size=6 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:24.0pt'>Third
of male fish in rivers are changing sex</span></font></b></h1>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=artbyline><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>By FIONA MACRAE, Daily Mail</span></font></span> <span class=artdate>19:36pm</span><span class=artdate> </span><span
class=artdate>19th July 2006</span> </p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>A third
of male fish in English rivers are changing sex due to 'gender-bending'
pollution, alarming research shows. </span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Experts
say female hormones from the contraceptive pill and HRT are being washed into
our rivers and causing male fish to produce eggs. </span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
problem - which is country-wide - has raised fears that the pollutants could
also be contaminating our drinking water - and even be affecting the fertility
of men. </span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
Environment Agency study looked at the health of more than 1600 roach found in
51 rivers and streams around the country. </span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Overall,
a third of the male fish were between sexes. However, in one waterway, near a
particularly heavy discharge of treated sewage more than 80 per cent had female
characteristics. </span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Tests
showed the males developed female sex organs and were producing eggs. Such fish
also produce less sperm and the sperm that is produced is of low quality.
Females may also be affected, producing abnormal eggs. </span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Previous
studies have that cod, trout and flounders are all being feminised. </span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Researcher
Professor Charles Tyler said that the fish are swimming in a soup of
oestrogen-like compounds, found in the Pill and in HRT. </span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
hormone, which is also produced naturally by women and found in industrial
waste, is released into our waterways after surviving the sewage treatment
process. </span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Prof
Tyler, one of the country's leading authorities on the effects of oestrogen,
said: 'There is a soup of oestrogen compounds, all with different degrees of
potency and they are interactive in their effects - if you add them together,
you add there are additional effects. </span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>'This
soup of oestrogen is responsible for causing these changes to the fish. It is
abnormal. These fish should be male or female. The fact that we have got such a
large proportion right across the country is not right.' </span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The </span></font>Exeter
University professor said it is too early to say what the long-term
implications will be for Britain's fishlife. </p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>While it
may not initially have a big impact on stock levels, a reduction in the number
of breeding males could lead to all sorts of genetic problems in later years. </span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>'Effects
like a change in how many males can contribute to the population can change the
genetic structure of the population,' he said. 'In five years' item, the whole
system could go belly-up.' </span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Human
health could also be at risk, with oestrogen from contaminated food and water
building up in our bodies. </span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Although
there is no conclusive proof, it is thought the hormone, which has similar
actions in fish and humans, could be partly to blame for falling sperm counts
in men. </span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>British
men's sperm counts dropped by almost a third between 1989 and 2002, and one in
six couples now have difficulty conceiving. </span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Prof
Tyler said: 'There is certainly the potential for it to have an effect in
humans - and possibly a marked effect.' </span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
Environment Agency is looking at ways of improving the sewage treatment
process, to either remove oestrogen during the process or reduce the amount
that is discharged into our waterways. </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:navy'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:navy'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:navy'>Deborah L. DeBiasi</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:navy;font-weight:bold'>Email:
dldebiasi@deq.virginia.gov</span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:navy'>WEB site address: </span></font><font
color=navy><span style='color:navy'><a href="www.deq.virginia.gov"><font
size=2><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>www.deq.virginia.gov</span></font></a></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:navy'>Virginia</span></font><font size=2
color=navy><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:navy'> </span></font><font
size=2 color=navy><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:navy'>Department</span></font><font
size=2 color=navy><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:navy'> of Environmental
Quality</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:navy'>Office of Water Permit Programs</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:navy'>Industrial Pretreatment/Toxics Management
Program</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:navy'>Mail:
</span></font><font size=2 color=navy><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:navy'>P.O.
Box 10009</span></font><font size=2 color=navy><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
color:navy'>, </span></font><font size=2 color=navy><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;color:navy'>Richmond</span></font><font size=2 color=navy><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:navy'>, </span></font><font size=2 color=navy><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:navy'>VA</span></font><font size=2 color=navy><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:navy'> </span></font><font size=2 color=navy><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:navy'>23240-0009</span></font><font size=2
color=navy><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:navy'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:navy'>Location: </span></font><font size=2
color=navy><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:navy'>629 E. Main Street</span></font><font
size=2 color=navy><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:navy'>, </span></font><font
size=2 color=navy><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:navy'>Richmond</span></font><font
size=2 color=navy><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:navy'>, </span></font><font
size=2 color=navy><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:navy'>VA</span></font><font
size=2 color=navy><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:navy'> </span></font><font
size=2 color=navy><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:navy'>23219</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:navy'>PH: 804-698-4028</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:navy'>FAX: 804-698-4032</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
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