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Detergent triggers sex change in Killies


Whiskas

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Found this article. Not promoting the experimenting but is interesting.

There are a couple of articles i found about killies and them being able to adapt very well to pollution etc.

"Detergent triggers sex change in killifish." Yomiuri Shimbun/Daily Yomiuri (August 6, 2001): YOSH18181843. InfoTrac OneFile. Thomson Gale. Wairarapa Library Service. 14 Dec. 2006

<http://find.galegroup.com/ips/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T004&prodId=IPS&docId=A77004349&source=gale&userGroupName=per_sou&version=1.0>.

Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2001 Financial Times Information Ltd.

The Environment Ministry on Friday completed the compilation of a report on experiments that it says proves nonylphenol (NP), a chemical often used as an industrial detergent, is an endocrine-disrupting chemical--commonly known as environmental hormones--that interferes with reproductive functions.

The report says that even exposure to low quantities of NP can have serious effects. For example, ovaries have been discovered developing in the spermaries of male fish in rivers that have low quantities of NP in the water, it says.

The ministry's report is believed to be the first in the world to suggest that the hormone causes such deformities.

The ministry has listed about 70 chemicals, including NP, as substances that may be endocrine disrupters, but NP is the first to be classified as such.

The United States and major European countries have been researching to determine which chemical substances are environmental hormones since 1980, when crocodiles with underdeveloped reproductive organs were found in the United States.

Ministry officials said NP was unlikely to cause health problems in humans as it has a weaker affect on humans than on fish.

In the experiment, fertilized killifish eggs were put in a water solution with a concentration of 11.6 micrograms of NP per liter.

The fish that hatched were observed for 60 days. Of the 29 male killifish that hatched, 17--or 60 percent--had developed spermary ova similar to ovary cells.

Spermary ova are implicated in a bizarre phenomenon in which a male fish transforms into a female fish.

The phenomenon has been observed under laboratory conditions when the NP concentration is higher than seen in nature. This is the first time the phenomenon has been discovered in naturally occurring water.

A 1998 study detected 21 micrograms of NP per liter in a water course leading to the Kanzakigawa river in Osaka Prefecture and 12 micrograms per liter in an outflow to the Tamagawa river in Tokyo. These concentrations are higher than that used in the ministry experiments.

Ministry officials said a similar phenomenon could occur in nature.

It is believed that some chemicals mimic the functions of natural female hormones, causing males to change their sex.

The ministry will call on manufacturers to produce an alternative product to NP. In addition, starting next fiscal year, it will single out NP-using plants for inspection, the officials said.

Copyright 2001 The Daily Yomiuri

Thomson Gale Document Number:A77004349

© 2005 Thomson Gale, a part of The Thomson Corporation. Thomson and Star Logo are trademarks and are registered trademarks used herein under license

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