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May 5, 2002
REVIEW: A poisoned future!
DESCRIBED as “the biggest scientific and public-relations bombshell to hit the chemical industry since Rachel L Carson’s 1962 classic, Silent spring”, the book under review paints a frightening scenario. It enumerates a series of instance suggesting that environmental contaminants have interfered with the natural hormonal balance in the wildlife and in people.
The book explores, giving historical examples, what can go wrong if the hormonal control of development is disrupted. Citing the classic case of diethylstilbestrol (DES), a synthetic oestrogen invented in 1938 and used by physicians to manage difficult pregnancies, it records that instead of helping pregnancies, DES caused rare forms of cancers, deformed fallopian tubes, and increased other risks. The impacts were not detected until after the victim had passed through puberty.
For instance, one of the authors, Dr Theo Colborn, reviewed hundreds of studies examining the health consequences of contamination in the Great Lakes (United States) and concluded that they involved disruption of the hormonal control of development.
Dr Fred von Saal of the University of Missouri-Columbia discovered that tiny variations of contaminants that mimic hormones can also alter biological growth. He studied the impact of minute variations in hormone exposure on the development of unborn mice still in the womb, and on adult characteristics of those mice when they matured.
The authors point out how use of certain synthetic compounds cause loss of fertility. Even some natural compounds, especially plant oestrogens, it has been proved, are capable of binding with animal oestrogen receptors, causing damage to the individuals exposed. Such plant oestrogens are known to be produced by at least three hundred plants from more than sixteen different plant families. Studies have shown that they are capable of interfering with animal fertility. The authors also examine the impacts of “hormone mimics” on reproduction and fertility.
An interesting narration allows the reader to follow a hypothetical journey of a polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) molecule from a Monsanto chemical plant in Alabama to its entry into the body of a polar bear in the Arctic, describing how a potent endocrine-disrupting compound can contaminate virtually every ecosystem on Earth. The authors discuss the critical question as to how much of a synthetic chemical does it take to disrupt hormone levels and do lifelong harm? Dioxin, for instance, in an unbelievingly tiny quantity is enough to alter the course of foetal development in the womb, they warn.
Thus it is clear that there are risks involved even in experiments with chemical compounds presumed to be safe which can cause unintentional and inadvertent hormonal disruptions. Dr Ana Soto and Dr Carlos Sonnenschein discovered that nonylphenol, an additive to plastics, binds with the oestrogen receptor and stimulates oestrogenic responses in living animals. The scientists also learnt that bisphenol-A (BPA), the basic building block of polycarbonate plastic, the substance baby-feed bottles are made of, increases breast cancer cell growth.
Animals have been exposed to the impact of endocrine disruption, and have suffered because of it. The Beluga whales in the St Lawrence River between the US and Canada, Florida panthers, seals in Europe, alligators in Lake Apopka, Florida, and frogs around the world are just a few examples.
Endocrine disruption has even caused decline in sperm count, prostate problems, reproductive defects in women, negative effect on intelligence, behaviour and disease resistance. Taking hormone disruption a step further, the authors narrate how it derails development, putting at risk the ability of individuals to participate fully in society.
The regulations currently in force are inadequate to protect individuals from endocrine disruption. What choices do consumers have to defend themselves? Should they avoid unnecessary uses of pesticides? Cut down on intake of contaminated food? Change the way they cook their food? Above all, we should seriously ponder what the future holds for us in the absence of any conclusive and purposeful studies conducted into the science of endocrine disruption.
The book sets the reader thinking that in the absence of adequate research, how can scientists gauge the extent of chemical pollution, and how can they really work to create a future where our children could be free from the danger of chemical contamination?
The book has been criticized by quite a few science professionals who allege that the authors have adopted an alarmist approach, drawing inferences from random instances instead of considering the whole picture. Its foreword has been written by Al Gore, who at the time of writing was the number two political figure in the United States, the country that has refused to rectify the Kyoto Protocol, and relaxed environment protection laws to favour its industries.
The Urdu edition leaves a lot to be desired. The translation is too literal and the reader is often left guessing what the actual concept might have been in the original book. The production is sub-standard. The original title of the book, and the names of the authors, in English, are mentioned nowhere.
One wonders why there are two forewords (one written by a director of WWF-Pakistan and the other by Al Gore). Surely, WWF-Pakistan could have produced more than just a thousand copies, if they wanted the book to reach more readers.
Hamara gumshuda mustaqbil
By Theo Colburn, Dianne Dumanoski and John Peterson Myers
Translated into Urdu by M. Ikram Chughtai
WWF-Pakistan, Ferozepur Road, Lahore 54600
ISBN 969-8283-17-X 280pp. Rs300
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