soy

July 31, 2002

OK, so here's the reference

Gender Transformed: Endocrine disruptors in the environment

Chapter for Fertile Ground: Women and Environmental History Ed. Virginia Scharff, (U. of Kansas Press, forthcoming 2003)

By Nancy Lagston at the Instittue for Environmental Studies

As to whomever thought it was the year 2000... last I heard it was 2002, which would mean the book would come out within a year. But, who knows, I'm in grad school and may be hallucinating as to the date. The years in grad school do seem like dog years at times... sigh.

She has several references in her that show that breast cancer responds to estrogen, from your body or foreign, and that endometriosis and uterine fibroid tumors also respond to these. Anyone remember the recent hormone replacement therapy news? It really doesn't matter where the estrogens come from, your body, food or from leaching from plastics it all acts the same... that is my point. Many soy products are high in phyto estrogens. In fact, most beans are.

David, you said that many of these folks have no problem with "flesh and diary". Nancy has issues with both. In fact, while not stating so much in the paper, in her talk she said alot about pregnant cows being milked.... if a cow is pregnant she is making more estrogen which will enter the milk and you... Frankly, I'm not sure how organic cows are managed - are they pregnant? I don't drink milk/cheese but do eat organic yogurt. She used to be strict veggie but does eat grass fed organic meat occasionally now...

Plastics... yes Max, even your drinking cups. It used to be thought that plastics were inert, well, recent accidental studies have shown that at least some of them release their very own phytoestrogens. In fact, plastic was really hit upon as a "not so great" thing... What to do? Beats me, I love my Nalgene bottle and buy RO water in a plastic 5 gallon jug. I vaguely remember something of "painting oneself into a corner."

I think that I am sharing my recent gain in knowlege not to scare anyone, I'll let you read the book yourself, but just to put a word of caution on the wind. With so much in the veggie world promoting the "joy of soy" and the semi-miracle plant status that it has gained, it only points us to the conclusion of all things, even things that seem wonderful, in moderation. I am perhaps a bit more ardent about this due to the recent cancer in my beloved dog. He now eats human grade dog food out of a ceramic dish. His illness has really got me thinking about what it is I eat and the implications of it for my health. Even on my very strict budget I try to eat organic when I can. As a scientist, it only makes sense, as a human I am scared not to. Even if all these chemicals that we are pumping into the world end up not amounting to anything more than a Y2K level scare, I would much rather be safe than sorry. Humans evolved to eat without chemicals, there will be a pointed and obvious lag time for evolution (or the death of many and the living of the genetically fortunate few) to catch up with the chemical food diet - I hope to be one of those left standing.

Genie

I would rather regret that which I have experienced than wish I had experienced that which is past.

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