Chemicals in the water are mixing up fish's gender (Photo courtesy of US Fish and Wildlife Service)
Scientists already know estrogen from things like ‘The Pill’ is getting into the water and causing reproductive problems for fish. Male fish are picking up female attributes. Some males are even growing eggs. Now a study finds there are other chemicals getting into water that might be messing with fish gender even more. Rebecca Williams reports:
Transcript
Scientists already know estrogen from things like ‘The Pill’ is getting into the water and causing reproductive problems for fish. Male fish are picking up female attributes. Some males are even growing eggs. Now a study finds there are other chemicals getting into water that might be messing with fish gender even more. Rebecca Williams reports:
This study’s found a group of chemicals that block the male hormone testosterone is getting into rivers.
Charles Tyler is the lead author of the paper in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
He says they don’t know exactly where these chemicals are coming from, but some medicines and pesticides can block testosterone. So, add that to the estrogen…
“And so it’s very likely they’re going to have interactive and additive effects, if you like, to induce a double whammy on the poor fish.”
Tyler says they don’t know if what’s happening in fish is also happening in people.
Human male fertility has been declining. But there might be other chemicals contributing to the problem.
And besides, there’s a difference. Fish can’t get away from these testosterone blocking chemicals or the estrogen in the water – they live and swim in them. So Tyler says they’re getting a much higher dose.
A study found that moms who ate peanut butter or nuts every day increased the
risk of asthma in their kids by 50% (Photo courtesy of the EPA)
A new study finds pregnant moms
who eat peanut butter every day might be
affecting their babies’ health. Rebecca
Williams has more:
Transcript
A new study finds pregnant moms
who eat peanut butter every day might be
affecting their babies’ health. Rebecca
Williams has more:
The Dutch government has been following a few thousand kids and their moms
for 8 years. They wanted to see if there was a link between the moms’ diets
and whether the kids would develop asthma.
It turns out that moms who ate peanut butter or nuts every day increased the
risk of asthma in their kids by 50%.
Dr. John Heffner is a former president of the American Thoracic Society. He
says these results are interesting – but that doesn’t mean there’s a definite link
between eating nuts and asthma.
“I think that this is a piece of information that confirms a well balanced diet of
mothers is the most important thing to do. But it doesn’t suggest that mothers
oughta take nuts out of their diet if they’re ingesting nuts now.”
Dr. Heffner says there are a lot of factors that could lead to asthma. He says
this needs more study, but in the meantime, pregnant moms should stick to
their doctor’s advice.
Michigan DNR Director Rebecca Humphries gets some coaching on her target shooting skills from her teenage daughter, Jenny Humphries. Jenny shoots clay pigeons competitively. (Photo by Sarah Hulett)
Moms and daughters check their targets. Each participant shot five rounds with .22-caliber bolt-action rifles. Several first-time shooters hit bull's eyes. (Photo by Sarah Hulett)
Mary Chillison came to the rifle range with her daughter Nikki. Chillison says she doesn’t have much interest in hunting, but she likes shooting targets. (Photo by Sarah Hulett)
If you look at the average hunting camp, you’d see about six men for every woman. But some state officials want that to change. They think getting more women and girls into the shooting sports will help turn around declining sales of hunting licenses. And they say that will help shore up state funds that pay for conservation. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Sarah Hulett reports:
Transcript
If you look at the average hunting camp, you’d see about six men for every woman. But
some state officials want that to change. They think getting more women and girls into
the shooting sports will help turn around declining sales of hunting licenses. And they
say that will help shore up state funds that pay for conservation. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Sarah Hulett reports:
“Okay, ladies… Is everybody done dry firing? All right. Safety on, actions open. The
coach will insert one round into the chamber…”
Today is the first time Abby Wood has ever shot a gun. Abby’s 13 years old, and she’s at
a mid-Michigan shooting range with about a dozen other daughters and their moms for a
day of gun safety instruction and target shooting.
Abby loads and shoots five rounds. Then she and her mom, Ann Miller, walk downrange
to check out her target.
“I got ’em all on the target, and they’re sort of in the same area. But they’re a little off.
And I got one really close to the bull’s eye, I’m kinda proud of that. (Ann:) I thought we
did great.”
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources put on this mother-daughter event as a
way to get more women and girls interested in target shooting and hunting. Like many
states, Michigan is seeing a slow decline in hunting license sales – about one percent a
year. And some worry that if that trend continues, it could hurt the state’s ability to pay
for conservation programs and to keep its wild deer herd in check.
Lynn Marla coordinates a state program that puts on workshops for women to develop
their outdoor skills. She says of all the outdoor sports, hunting is the most difficult
activity to get women interested in.
“It’s basically ‘never been invited. Never been taught.’ I mean, I know a man who’s my
age and he had three daughters and a son. And he never even thought to ask his
daughters.”
But some states are extending invitations to women and girls who want to learn to shoot
and hunt. The Becoming an Outdoors Woman program – or BOW – started in Wisconsin
in the early 1990s. BOW is now in 43 states, seven Canadian provinces, and New
Zealand. Every year, about 20-thousand women spend a weekend hunting, fishing, and
learning other outdoor activities like paddling and orienteering.
Christine Thomas is BOW’s founder, and a professor at the University of Wisconsin. She
says it’s important to get different kinds of people interested in outdoor activities.
“Because – especially as budgets shrink, but really anytime – as people have less of a tie
to the natural resources, they are less likely to care what happens to them. So from a
standpoint of political support for fish and wildlife programs, environmental protection, I
think it’s important to get lots of people involved. And women and girls are some of
those people.”
At the rifle range, Mart McClellan says she didn’t grow up around hunters, and she used
to be opposed to hunting. But she says working with people who hunt has changed her
attitude, and she’s interested in trying it.
“You know, it seems like in the past, from my perspective, it’s been such a sexist kind of
sport…that doesn’t need to be. And I think a lot of women and girls get intimidated.
Because you know you hear the stories about deer camp, it’s all the guys, and guy
bonding. So I think this will kind of combat that stereotype. And hopefully get more
women out hunting.”
This is the Michigan Department of Natural Resources’ first shooting event for women
and girls. Abby Wood – the teenager who’s shooting for the first time – says she likes
target shooting – and she thinks she might want to try hunting too. And after a day on the
shooting range littered with rifle shells, she’s got some ideas about what she might want
to wear to deer camp.
“I want to make earrings out of the leftover shells…”
Chemicals in the water are mixing up fish's gender (Photo courtesy of US Fish and Wildlife Service)
