The new March edition of Natural History magazine, a publication of AMNH which libraries tend to carry or to be able to get on loan, has a fascinating article titled "Hormonal Sabotage" on pages 42 through 49. I figured that it may interest more than a few here since mink and otter studies are mentioned, and since breeding and cancer questions are involved. In the piece about substances which have apparent disruptive effects on humans and other critters the topics tackled include pesticides (BTW, if you don't know, these redistribute globally in the winds, rains, tides, and migrating animals.), some of which are banned in certain parts of the world which never-the-less still manufacture them in the tens of millions of pounds for use abroad so they sadly resemble land mines on several counts. Also included in the implicated items (Some are well documented, others less so.) are PCBs, DES (which had been more widely prescribed -- even for acne back when -- than I ever guessed), dioxins, furans, and, of course, certain plastics and additives to plastics (as well as to other products such as some toiletries) such as: alkylphenols, and bisphenol-A. The research comes from all over the world: At the University of Granada work was done on such compounds found leaching from the plastics used to line food cans, in Copenhagen a world wide human sperm count drop of 50% between 1938 and 1990 was asserted as was a link to an increase in a form of testicular cancer, in the U.S. (mink), Britain (otters), and other wildlife studies touched on decreased fertility, birth defects, developmental malformations, increased androgeny of both genders, compromised immune systems, thyroid dysfunctions, etc. Some of the exposures mentioned are ones we do have the option of changing so I figured I'd toss this out and anyone who is familiar with the area, or who wants to read the piece and make or suggest easy possibly constructive life style changes (such as supplementing or replacing plastic bottles and cups with stainless steel or glass IF the former turn out to contain the questionable compounds) may do so. Of course, it might be that over-all the impact of a certain percentage of these compounds (perhaps below certain concentrations only) is small compared to, for instance, that of exposure to some natural toxins. Examples: If one looked at fungicides then one would have to consider that there are fungi whose bi-products are such strong neurotoxins as to completely overwhelm the risk of inhibiting them. Heavy metals such as lead are a serious threat compared to shields against them. Never assume that natural means safe and unnatural means unsafe; it's not so simple. Minds may be like parachutes in that they only work when open, but parachutes won't open in a workable fashion if they are packed wrong, deployed incorrectly, ... Anyway, it does lead to interesting questions for breeders, oncologists and those whose ferrets have certain cancers, those interested in muscle wasting, etc. (Since I have natural tendencies toward pattern recognition and lateral thinking (or flailing, as the case may be), and this is an area well enough outside my expertise that the questions which arise might resemble nothing logical or an interesting diversion (a cheap giggle?) I have some questions for those here who are more competent in such things: several years ago preliminary studies indicated some interesting aspects of artificial lighting cascading through hormonal interactions. Now, I know that the possible antioxidant aspects of sufficient dark periods and our responses to them --such as melatonin production -- are still too untested for one to say anything, but what happened to the hypothesis that having too short periods of true darkness might act like a pseudoestrogen? Given that postmenopausal women who take estrogen have lower rates of alzheimers and that there certainly are cancers which are hormonally influenced, what are the chances that some other disorders or diseases could also be? Has anyone looked, say, at androgen inhibition in ones where there is muscle wasting? (Perhaps there could be some trick here if obstacles could be eventually overcome to forestall muscle loss with pred? Does pred inhibit androgens?) After all, why couldn't a person have a genetic disorder which would affect hormonal balance (acknowledging here that some speak of aging as a defect and that it has some genetic borders), or why couldn't a microbe have such influences either directly or through a biproduct? As I recall, pot can have estrogenic effects; I well recall a surgeon telling me of an upcoming bilateral mastectomy on a teenage boy which he blamed on smoking grass at a critical stage of development. Why couldn't some microbes or their wastes also affect our hormonal systems? Yes, I know that it now appears for humans that the big things are diet, obesity, smoking, and the like, but the picture could be quite different in ferrets, other than the aging factor. I'd like to be able to do more for our guys in relation to this than just guessing by providing them with their Beasty Yeasty Treat -- Schiff Brewer's yeast mixed with water and sometimes an assortment of other stuff except sugar which can impair chromium uptake, throwing a sheet over them after a certain hour, etc. Of course, I know that you all would, too, including the researchers here, so I guess I am asking about any possibly promising hypotheses, with all the limitations entailed therein.) Sukie (I have the flu as do 3 of our 6 ferrets -- yes, half the household is down.) [Posted in FML issue 1485]