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]