The Estrogen Imitators: 1994
The Estrogen Imitators was a highly charged piece to research, write,
and defend in the fall of 1994. The topic involved how chemicals in the
environment mimic the female hormone estrogen and cause serious
reproductive issues in wild animals -- sometimes to the point of
actually changing the sex of an animal, if you can believe it. Utterly
amazing and terrifying for the biologists studying this phenomenon.
It's bad for the animals, sure, but what about the implications for
humans? After all, we live in the same environment, don't we? That's
what I explored in this article. I interviewed a bunch of biologists
and was, quite frankly, shocked at what I found. I was equally unnerved
by the reaction of the chemical industry, though. They were not at all
happy
with the article, which I expected, I suppose. They criticized me after
the piece was written, but they had little interest in contributing to
the article during its development. Imagine that. Then they wrote a
letter to the editor taking shots at me. So, naturally, I responded in
kind and around we went. I'll have to dig out the back and forth and
post "conversation" too.
