Beware: The Xenoestrogens Have Arrived

[Guest guest]

Beware: The " Xenoestrogens " Have Arrived

Dr. Dan Harper, MD

 

Sounds like something from " The Body Snatchers " . A few years back,

anarticle appeared in that scientific magazine called Newsweek.

In it, a high school girl in her science fair project told how that

compounds called " xenoestrogens " were being absorbed by the foods

placed in plastic containers or Saran wrap, and then taken up by the

body when ingested, doing major damage.

 

These " xenoestrogens " (that's changed-female-hormones' for all us) act like

free-radicals, zapping everything they touch, then

go into the liver to wreak havoc on the detoxification enzymes, then

wander nonchalantly into the various tissues of the body to start

over-feminizing them.

 

Ever wonder why those 2nd graders now look like something in the

Miss America pageant when we were kids?

 

They go on to accelerate breast cancer in those who have such a

tendency, and would you believe they have the audacity to fool

around with a guy's prostate.

 

In the past, (us old-timers always start our sentences that way— " in

the past " , or " when I was young " ), breast cancer was a disease of 60 or

70 year old women.

 

I never heard of anyone with prostate problems until

20 years ago and now we've all got it (males, that is). I'm sure

there's no connection, right?

 

When I was young, one in fifty developed cancer

in their lifetime, now it's one in two. (I don't think it's due to

doctors getting smarter and finding cancer earlier).

 

The bad news is that xenoestrogens are not only in plastics, but its

in the hormones the stockmen and farmers use to fatten up their animals

for market—beef, chicken, turkey, pork…that's why you want to harvest

your own meats or get organic meats to avoid these products that fatten

us up, too.

 

These little chemicals also do a number on the immune system in

general, setting up all kinds of cancers, and a number of autoimmune

disorders—fibromyalgias, chronic fatigue, thyroid problems, multiple

sclerosis, prostate enlargement, and the list goes on.

 

So, what do we do? Boycott the new KFC? They just got here—it isn't

their fault.

A letter writing campaign to Congress to shut down Saran Wrap? Naw,

save your ink, the politicians can't read anyway.

They only know how to gab.

 

The first step is to remember you are what you eat. (Brings back

memories of the Twinkie eating cop in Die Hard). It is best to shop

for foods around the periphery of the grocery store, getting the fresh,

raw produce.

 

An even better approach is to order organic produce from some of the

local co-op people [editor's note: some of you might not know what a

co-op is, so let me explain.

 

People who are tired of eating food filled with chemicals or food

from factory farms that abuse this planet get together and form a

co-operative store which is run by volunteers.

They order, sell, and deal in organic foods (many in bulk), healthy

supplements, hair and skin care products that are less toxic, and

cleaning supplies that are less toxic. This is the power and magic

of people working together for a common good], or products from

Timeless Seeds or Seeds of Change.

 

We also have local organic ranchers producing

beef and pork without all the harmful toxins. I hear so many

complain, " it costs more " , but how much is your chemotherapy or heart

by-pass orsilk-lined coffin going to cost?

 

If your body has already suffered from the effects of these

xenoestrogens, your liver needs to be detoxified to begin handling

this and other poisons before it's too late.

 

I know of two oral detoxification processes, as well as an IV method

that is quicker. Once the detoxification has occurred, don't make it

worse by putting the same junk into your body that caused the

poisoning in the first place. (Sounds like Proverbs, where the dog returns to

its vomit.)

Now comes one of the strangest parts of the article—progesterone. I

have

found that both men and women need progesterone in levels the

average

American isn't getting.

 

All you ladies have put up with me

suggesting

Progesterone cream for hot flashes, mood swings, depression,

fibromyalgias, chronic fatigue,…ad nauseum…you name it, I suggested

it.

Recently, I read how that progesterone is the precursor of estrogens

in

females and testosterone in males, and that low levels of

progesterone

 

may lead to miscarriage in females and infertility in males.

Then another article told how the human body begins to convert that

progesterone into cortisol, needed to make adrenaline to deal with

stress. (Stress? isn't that the theme of the newsletter that sent

you

here?)

 

The readings went on to reveal how carbohydrate metabolism, thyroid

production, serotonin and dopamine functions in the brain, lipid

metabolism, immune functions…all depended on progesterone to

function

correctly.

 

If the stress has stolen all the progesterone to make cortisol to

keep

you going in stressful situations, that explains some of the

fatigue,

depression, rise in blood sugars and fats, frequent infection, when

we

are near a " burn out " state.

One of the things needed to deal with this stressful state is more

progesterone. Fortunately, there are some good progesterone products

on

the market that are made from Wild Yams. The best are " micronized "

and

are readily absorbed through the skin when applied on the abdomen,

legs,

or arms.

 

The local pharmacies carry a product called " Life-Flo " , 2-

Js

has one called " Fem Crème " , and then there's the multi-level

marketing

company Matol Botanical Products that you can find on the net; all

have

good results in most people. If one doesn't seem to be working, try

another preparation. (That's why we have both Anusol and Preparation

H,

some work better for one than the other.) Anyway, back to the story.

It is the imbalance of estrogen to progesterone ratio that sets up

the

breast cancer or uterine cancer in the women. It is this imbalance

of

estrogens to progesterone in the male that causes prostate problems.

This imbalance contributes to heart disease and autoimmune diseases

in

both sexes (doesn't want to show any favoritism—afraid of lawsuits

about

discrimination, I reckon.)

So, now that I've beat this dead horse enough…let me just caution

you to

rethink the foods you buy, as well as their storage and the types of

containers your beverages come in. (Aluminum for Alzheimer's and

Plastic

for Poison). I'm sure they sneak in other ways (a quick trip to the

internet or library will reveal those), but if your liver is healthy

and

you have enough progesterone, you might just live to see another day.

By the way, may that day be a special one.

 

http://www.mnwelldir.org/docs/cancer1/xeno.htmXenoestrogens and Women's Health

by Sandra Steinbraber and Kathryn Patton

 

Manufactured from cholesterol by a woman's ovaries each month, the

hormone called estrogen circulates in he blood, passes easily in and

out of all organs and tissues and is eventually metabolised by enzymes

in the liver

 

Certain tissues in a woman's body, however, contain rceptors that latch

onto estrogen molecules as they float through her body.

During the few hours whenestrogen molecules are bound to the receptors,

thecells of these " target tissues " are stimulated to proliferate.

 

The cells of the vagina, the uterus and the breast all contain large

numbers of estrogen receptors.

In the presence of estrogen, they grow.

 

A few years ago, cell biologist Dr. Ana Soto was working out the

biochemical details of estrogenm sensitivity -- and its relationship to

breast cancer when something puzzling happened in her Tufts University

laboratory.

 

Tissues growing in plastic dishes containing no estrogens started

proliferating.

" This indicated that some type of contamination had occurred, " Soto

remembered.

 

" We made an accidental discovery. " Sototraced the contamination to

the plastic tubes-- she was using to store blood serum.

Working with her colleague Carlos Sonnenschein, Soto purified the

contaminant-- and identified it as nonylphenol, a chemical added during

the manufacture of plastic to prevent it from cracking.

They discovered molecules of nonylphenol were being shed from the tubes

into the serum.

 

Soto and Sonnenscheinwent on to prove that nonylphenol is estrogenic -

that is, --it mimics the effect of estrogen when added to tissues

containing estrogen receptors.

 

In a series of experiments published in 1991, Soto demonstratedthat

human breast tissue proliferates in thepresence of nonylphenol,

possibly placing it on the path to tumour formation.

Soto and Sonnenschein'sresearch is now focused on quantifying the

estrigenicity of nonylphenol and other substances.

These chemicals are being termed xenoestrogens:

substances foreign to the human body that, directly or indirectly,

act like estrogens.

 

Xenoestrogens are a hot area of research right now among

biochemists,epidemiologists, cancer researchers and endocrinologists.

Because of their ability to interfere with the normal process of

hormonal regulation in women's bodies,

xenoestrogens are being implicated in many reproductive disorders,

ranging from infertility and endometriosis to breast and

ovarian cancer.

 

And, as increasing numbers of chemicals are demonstrated to function as

xenoestrogens,

scientists are beginning to learn just how amazingly estrogenic the

industrialised world is.

 

Nonylphenol,for example, is not only found in plastic but is also an

additive in detergents and pesticides.

According toSoto, over 450 million pound on nonylphenols are produced

each year.

 

Nonylphenol is also an ingredient in spermicides.The banned pesticide

DDT is a xenoestrogen. So is the unbanned pesticide

endosulphan.

 

So is atrazine, the most commonly used weed killer in US cornfields.

So is DES, the druggiven to millions of women from 1948 to 1972 to

prevent miscarriages (which it didn't).

 

And so aredozens of different combustion products emitted from

coal-burning power plants and automobile exhaust pipes.

To understand the impact of xenoestrogens on women's health -

we have discovered through our investigation - one has to become a bit

of an endocrinologist, chemist, and historian.

Like all steroid hormones (primarily reproductive related hormones),

estrogenhas a " backbone " made up of 17 carbon atoms arranged

as three hexagons interlocked with a pentagon.

 

Estrogen can exist in one of several modified forms, and each form has

its own chemical name.

 

The most potent form produced by the ovaries is called estradiol.

Blood levels of estradiol rise steadily during the first half of a

woman's menstrual cycle.

 

All cells of the body are permeable to estradiol.

However, most estradiol is carried in the blood on special sex-hormone

binding proteins.

 

These carrierproteins regulate and slow down the entry of estradiol

molecules into surrounding tissues.

 

This feature turnsout to be important because many xenoestrogens are

not carried on these molecules and can therefore enter

cells more quickly and at low concentration.

 

Whenestradiol enters the cell of a target tissue such as the breast or

the lining of the uterus and is bound by an estorgen receptor, the

story becomes more mysterious.

 

Just 10 years ago, scientists learned that these receptors are

themselves attached to the coiling strands of DNA where our genes lie

like beads on a string.

 

When attached to estradiol, the receptor triggers a change in gene

expression.

 

Depending on the type oftissue, some genes may be turned on;

differentproteins may be manufactured; the rate of cell division may

accelerate.

 

The exact mechanisms ofaction is still an ongoing subject of

research. What is known for sure is that at some point,

the receptoris " processed " and the estrogen molecule released.

 

Meanwhile, in the liver, estradiol molecules carried in by the

bloodstream are broken down.

 

Thereare two different chemical routes that estradiol molecules can

take here.

 

The first one alters carbonatom number 2 and converts estradiol into

a compoundcalled 2-hydroxyestrone.

The second pathway alters carbon atom number 16, producing a metabolite

called 16-beta-estriol. The proportion of 2 to 16 turns out to

be critical.

 

The 16-metabolite is still estrogenic: it can recirculate through a

woman's body and bind to estrogen receptors just like its parent,

estradiol.

 

Moreover, it is capable of directly damaging the DNA strand.

In contrast, the 2-metabolite is minimally estrogenic and is non-toxic

to DNA. Clearly, a low 16 to 2 ratio is desirable.

Some xenoestrogens act to skew this balance away from 2 and towards the 16

pathway, as we shall see.

 

Now enter xenoestrogens. And to explain their entry, we need a bit of

chemical history

 

During World War II, legions of organic chemists were put to work by

their governments to solve wartime problems.

The pesticide DDT, for example, was perfected and developed as a means to

control body lice and, therefore, typhus.

 

Herbicides 2,4-D and2,4,5-F were developed as chemical defoliants for

fighting jungle warfare.These new chemicals were synthetic, meaning

they are derived from petroleum and manufactured in a laboratory.

Whole new classes of chemicals not found in nature were thus created.

 

Organochlorines, of which DDT and PCB's are two, are made by attaching

chlorine atoms to carbon chains, for example. While chlorine and carbon

are common elements of the natural world, they are almost never

found bonded together.

 

At the end of the war, the US government helped the petrochemical

industry to find private markets for their products. DDT was used for

mosquito and agricultural pest control.

 

Chemical defoliants were used in national forests to control shrubs.

Lawn, garden and household insecticides were developed. Detergents

replaced soaps. Plastics replaced celluloid.

 

And 50 Years Later</STRONG

 

Because they derive from oil, most of these synthetic products are,

like steroid hormones, fat-soluble.

This means that, rather than leaving the body (as they would if they

were water-soluble), these synthetic products accumulate in areas of

the body

where fat content is high - for example, breasts.

 

Moreover, any of them, like steroid hormones, consist of interlocking

hexagonal rings of carbon atoms.

Giventhat these new chemicals shared these properties with steroid

hormones, one might reasonably wonder why their potential to wreak

havoc with our reproductive

systems was not considered sooner.

 

There are doubtlessmany reasons. Sexism would be one starting point.

The prevailing ideology of the Cold War would be another.

Rachel Carson was one of the first scientists to raise questions about

DDT.

 

Her 1962 book, Silent Spring, was accused by industry chemists of

threatening the Free World's food supply.

But yet another answer resides in the nature of estrogenicity itself:

it is a far sneakier concept than even many scientists concerned

with the issue had imagined.

 

First, the estrogen receptor is turning out to be far less specific

than anyone imagined.

 

Carboncompounds quite different-looking from estradiol are able to

attach to it. Soto points out that scientists cannot predict whether a

chemical can attach to estrogen receptors purely from the shape of the

molecule.

 

Estrogen receptors are like locks that accept many different keys.

DDT for example, has only two hexagonal rings and yet is able to bind

directly to the receptor.

 

Second, xenoestrogens have many modes of operation.

Not all of them latch on to estrogen receptors.

Some simply stimulate the manufacture of more estrogen receptor

molecules.

 

More receptors mean an amplified response to the estradiol naturally

floating through a woman's body, which may place her at a higher risk

for breast cancer.

 

Still other xenoestrogens act in the liver to accelerate the metabolism

of estradiol toward the 16-metabolite and away from the 2 pathway. More

16-beta-estriol

means more bio-available estrogen and more damage to

DNA. The weed killer atrazine seems to have this

effect.

 

The first clue that estrogens might play a role in breast cancer came

in 1896 when a British surgeon reported that removal of the ovaries

sometimes caused breast tumours to shrink.

 

Since then, many different studies indicate that a woman's risk of

breast cancer is related to her lifetime exposure to estrogen.

Early first menstruation, late menopause, and late or no

childbirth are all considered risk factors.

 

However,these factors explain only a portion of the increasing

rates of breast cancer, which in North America has nearly tripled since

1950.

 

The first well-documented study that established a preliminary link

between pesticide exposure and breast cancer came only recently.

 

In April 1993, 31 years after the publication of Carson's Silent Spring,

biochemist Dr. Mary Wolff at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York

reported that women diagnosed with breast cancer had significantly

higher concentrations of DDT in their blood than women

without breast cancer.

 

At the same time, other researchers began reporting their results on

how DDT and estrogen affect the growth of breast cells in laboratory

cultures.

 

Dr. Leon Bradlow at Cornell University reported at a breast cancer

conference in October 1995 that pesticide residues induce " anchorage

independence " in breast tumour cultures.

 

This means that tumour cells can continue dividing even when

detached from other cells,

a feature that allows breast cancer to spread in the body.

 

Wolff and Bradlow are currently collaborating on a project that

investigates exactly how xenoestrogens like DDT place

breast tissue on the pathway to tumour formation. Soto

is presently working on developing an assay that would

allow a woman's total body burden on xenoestrogens to

be measured.

 

This may provide the most comprehensive indicator to date of the

relationship between

environmental estrogens and breast cancer.

 

Recent studies also link xenoestrogens to ovarian cancer.

Because the raw material for estrogen production is cholesterol,

the ovary, like the breast, is a repository of fat-soluble

contaminants.

 

Dioxin, for example, has been found in the fluid surrounding human eggs

extracted for test-tube fertilisation.

 

Studies done in 1989 showed that estrogen increases the rate of growth

of ovarian tumour cells by 50% compared to those not treated with

estrogen.

 

In the same year, Italian researchers studying the health and habits of

women farmers in northern Italy discovered that women farmers exposed

to triazine herbicides, such as atrazine, had a three-

to- four-times higher risk for ovarian cancer.

 

Both these lines of research suggests that triazine

herbicides may be acting as xenoestrogens in the

ovaries, a hypothesis that has been supported by more

recent research.

 

However, many of the existing reports suffer from small sample sizes,

difficulty determining actual

exposures, and lack of control groups.

 

Further research on the precise actions of herbicides in the ovaries is

also needed.In the meantime, what should the fate of triazine

herbicides by?

 

Germany banned the agricultural use of atrazine in

1991. In the Midwestern United States, atrazine continues to run off farm

fields and into ground and surface water.

 

Much of what is known about xenoestrogens' impact on fertility and

reproduction comes from animal studies.

 

Wildlife biologist Dr. Theo. Colburn had conducted long-term and

intensive studies of animals living in the Great lakes Basin. This are

is highly contaminated with organochlorines from chemical

industries and pulp and paper mills, which use great

amounts of chlorine bleach.

 

He research documents that many animal species living near water -

eagles, mink, fish and various shore birds - are unable to reproduce

successfully due to high body burdens of various

xenoestrogens.Colburn is currently at work on

elucidating what she calls " the human/wildlife

connection " .

 

She is particularly interested in considering a possible link between

estrogenic pollutants and falling sperm counts in men. She also

suspects xenoestrogens could be contributing to the

400% increase in ectopic (outside the uterus)

pregnancies between 1970 and 1987

 

A separate line of research is focused on xenoestrogens and

endometriosis.

 

This disease causes pieces of the uterine lining to attach and grow

outside the uterus, causing pain and often

infertility.

 

Exposure to PCB's has been shown to cause endometriosis in female

monkeys.In November 1995, researchers reported that monkeys exposed to

dioxin also develop significantly higher levels of

endometriosis.

 

Dioxin is a contaminant in many pesticides and is also formed during

many industrial processes that use chlorine.

 

Strangely enough, unlike other xenoestrogens, dioxin seems to

counteract rather than magnify the effects of estradiol. Some

researchers believe that dioxin may blockade the estrogen receptors,

preventing estrogen molecules from attaching.The US Environmental

Protection Agency is planning further research on the possible link

between

dioxin and endometriosis in women.

 

The flurry of research interest

now surrounding xenoestrogens did not just develop on

its own. Indeed, most scientific investigations do not

just happen. Which questions are deemed important,

which projects receive funding, which studies are

followed up - these are all political issues.

 

In

the case of xenoestrogens, many environmental and

women's health activists have been at work behind the

scenes - and sometimes in the streets - to insist that

particular questions be asked and answered.

 

For example, the Endometriosis Association, a women's

advocacy group, sponsored the study on dioxin

mentioned above.

 

In October 1995, Long Island activists convened their own scientific

conference on breast cancer and the environment.

In the same month, the American Public Health Association called for

the elimination of chlorine in manufacturing, citing its'

role in the creation of xenoestrogens and the threat

to women's health.

 

There are other signs of change.

 

Breast cancer activists in San Francisco succeeded in

adding a panel on breast cancer and the environment to

the program at the annual meeting of the American

Association for the Advancement of Science in February

1994.

 

Green peace and the Women's Environment and

Development Organisation (WEDO) headed by Bella Abzug,

recently met with women's health activist in Austin,

Texas, to launch a joint initiative called " Women,

Cancer and the Environment " .

 

Ana Soto's accidental discovery and her subsequent

research shed light on possible environmental

intervention to prevent breast cancer.

 

Soto said she hoped that her work will help develop a more

ecological view of human health, understanding that

pollutants in water, soil, air - and even plastic

tubes - eventually find their way into our bodies.

 

" Molecular biology is not enough. We can't understand

the additive effects of xenoestrogens by only looking

at genes... Banned pesticides are still found in the

fish that we eat. "

 

Sandra Steingrabe is a visiting scholar at North-eastern University

with a PhD in biology. She is the author of " Post Diagnosis " , a book of

poetry on

women's cancers, and is currently writing a book on

cancer and the environment to be published by Addison

Wesley in 1996.

 

Kathryn Patton has participated in cancer research projects at the

University of Washington Medical

Centre and is considering a career in oncology.

 

Reprinted from Sojourner:

The Women's Forum.

Subscription is $21 per year for 12 issues. 42

Seaverns Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts USA

02130.

--- End forwarded message ---

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JoAnn Guest

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