About endocrine disrupters:
After more than a quarter of a century of Clean Water Act legislation and enforcement, the Washington area's river and bay waters are nowhere near as healthy as they should be.
The main sources of the impairments are no mystery: sedimentation, agricultural runoff, rainwater running off paved surfaces. But recently, it has come to light that there is more going on in the Potomac River than meets the eye. While we have long tracked traditional pollutants, "Poisoned Waters," the documentary that will run on PBS's "Frontline" on Tuesday, highlights a new face in the lineup: chemical compounds that interact with and possibly interfere with the workings of the endocrine system. The endocrine system controls growth, metabolism and reproduction in humans and animals.
This class of pollutants is called "endocrine disruptors." These compounds are the primary suspect in the mystery of intersex fish that have been found in the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers. To date, we know that these compounds disrupt the development of many aquatic species, most notably male smallmouth bass that have developed eggs. This condition has been documented in the Potomac River watershed and beyond. It is becoming a global phenomenon.
Washington area residents get almost 90 percent of their drinking water from the river. Endocrine disruptors may enter our water in many different ways. Chemical-laden runoff from our lawns and roads flows into the river through the storm sewer system. Pharmaceuticals and personal-care products go down our toilets and drains and through the wastewater treatment plant, which does not remove them. Agricultural chemicals wash out of fields and chicken houses and into nearby streams. Drinking-water treatment plants do not treat for these chemicals before the water is delivered to our tap. In short, every place where water and chemicals combine becomes a potential source of endocrine disruptors in our drinking water.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/18/AR2009041801950.htmlAnd the Frontline page for the epi:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/poisonedwaters/