Sorry about sending a mail meant for the FHL to the FML.  Between ragweed
season starting up and a possible new vitreous tear in one eye (to
ophthalmologist soon today) I am not up to form.  Hopefully, it won't
worsen like the tear last year, or skimming and searching will be a
problem for a month or two.  Since I had a bad asthma attack on Friday
it would not surprise me if it originated then from the coughing but
didn't get to the flasher point till late last night.
 
A recent study showed two herbal oils in common use to be not only
estrogenic but also anti-androgenic:
 
>Bloch contacted Derek Henley and Kenneth Korach of the National
>Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle
>Park, N.C. In their lab, the two investigators exposed human-breast
>cells to lavender oil and, separately, to tea tree oil.  They found
>that each oil turned on estrogen-regulated genes and inhibited an
>androgen-regulated gene.
 
...
 
>"These oils possess both estrogenic and anti-androgenic properties,"
>Henley reported at the Endocrine Society meeting in Boston this week.
>He adds that the finding is the first to implicate "essential oils"
>from plants in gynecomastia.
 
(From Science News in early July)
 
These are best avoided for ferrets, and the study authors strongly
recommended not using them for males, especially those who have not
achieved adulthood.  Some who used toiletry products with the oils on a
very regular basis required cosmetic breast removals.  (BTW, marijuana
use during early puberty also has this effect in some male humans, so
side-stream smoke from pot probably is not a good idea for ferrets which
are already susceptible to hyperestrogenic medical problems.)
 
-- Sukie (not a vet, and not speaking for any of the below in my
private posts)
Recommended health resources to help ferrets and the people who love
them:
Ferret Health List
http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth
FHL Archives
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
AFIP Ferret Pathology
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
Miamiferrets
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
International Ferret Congress Critical References
http://www.ferretcongress.org
[Posted in FML issue 5342]