Men all pause

Now I know some may anticipate that I will be writing about the confirmation hearings of Sonya Sotomayor. Not. In fact I would rather be listening to hearings on the two appropriation bills talking about spending my loot over that stuff. But If did write about such I could summate it in a few sentences for it doesn’t matter who up on the bench; I mean she kind of troubled me saying she would care about international law over the constitution. But it’s not important for as I said my concern is when will Americans wake up and see that Democrats and Republicans are stealing our country and robbing us blind – any who.

Since I have not composed a science post in a while, I will take this chance to do so. It seems that over the past 10 to 12 years, biologists have been observing interesting occurrences in the lakes, streams and rivers in our nation. They have been detecting extreme levels of organochlorine levels in tissues of fish.

In the Mississippi River, they have detected Chlordane, which is both a carcinogen and an endocrine disrupter, in shovelnose sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus platyorynchus). This has also been observed in Small Mouth Bass in the Virginia area, namely the Potomac River, where a high rate of intersex (male fish exhibiting female characteristics) has led to an investigation of water quality and wastewater discharge the nation water-ways.

These chemicals have resulted in an interesting outcome to say the least – male fish that carry eggs. Yes eggs. It seems that this group of chemicals is not as important to our politicians as greenhouse gasses. Moreover, t seems that our government is so concerned with farts and global warming that they have missed something that may be even more dangerous than carbon emissions. Xenobiotic pollutants have revealed the capacity to disrupt reproductive endocrine system functions. Based on my limited understanding of biology, I suspect it is because they interact at the level of the hypothalamus, pituitary, gonad and/or liver. Fucking with the endocrine glands may result both in changes in the rate of gonadal development and/or in the viability of the gametes (sex cells = sperm and ova).

The endocrine glands secrete hormones directly into the bloodstream which in turn affect the activities in other parts of the body. Which means they serve as a federal express for the purpose of controlling and coordinating activities throughout the body. The hormones then bind to receptors, which allows it to transmits a message for a specific action. It just amazes me that we will complain about the earth getting warmer but not even mention or focus on those that intentionally pour pesticides and flame retardants in our tributaries. Again they have been asleep at the wheel politicians, for if fish and other water creatures are impacted this way by such pollutants, they likely hood is just as viable for human beings. I could not imagine a world in which men were no longer men and carried eggs – dang, makes the men all pause for real in my eyes.