This show started with a scene where Dr. Louis Guillette is riding a boat looking for alligators in the night. He started on his research on effects of endocrine disruptors when he saw changes in reproductive system of alligators. He thinks that we could extrapolate the effects of endocrine disruptors on humans by studying wildlife. At a certain level I agree with Dr. Guillette about studying wildlife regarding effects since animal testing is an integral tool of experimentation on the effects of chemicals on our physiology. He found a visible sign of endocrine disruption in affected alligators as the penis length was shorter than those which have not be affected.

He has critics who say that the effects of endocrine disruption on human biology must be studied using human test subjects. It is also speculated that the dosage in which alligators and other wildlife are affected might be insignificant on human levels. The reason for this criticism for alligator testing is that future chemical regulations could be possibly based on these tests. The industry says that these damaging reports scare the general public. Another reason for this sort of a response from critics is that the tests are very difficult to reproduce.

Research into endocrine disruptors is very important because it’s very important to know the effect it has on our body. The defects caused by these chemicals are irreversible. They showed an example of this irreversible condition in a chick whose eyes didn’t develop when it was supposed to during gestation. The effect of the chemicals in human babies lowers the IQ by a few points shown in some studies. But we also need to figure out how much of the endocrine disruptors are harmful.

An historical example of the potency of endocrine disruptors is DES. In the 1960’s, many women took this drug for birth control, abortions etc. Women who took this drug have severe gynecological problems now and their children are born with defects. It is an epitome of a drug being released into the market without any sort of testing. Seventy of the elements in the periodic table are endocrine disruptors. Plenty of drugs now like anti-histamines are dependent of chlorinated precursors. Chlorinated compounds are known endocrine disruptors.

EPA cannot ban every single chemical that is potentially an endocrine disruptor since a lot of the things used in every day life are made from chemicals. They have banned a few highly toxic chemicals such as DDT and PCBs but banning all potentially dangerous chemicals is nearly impossible.

It was fascinating to see how science and politics mix. It was common belief that these two fields were separate but they were brought together by women’s activist group dealing with breast cancer and its relation to endocrine disruptors. Another example was the Food Quality Protection Act being passed by the Congress which caused stringent regulation of endocrine disruptors in food.

Dr. Guillette talks about the concentration of endocrine disruptors found in the environment naturally. He has found alligators in less polluted lakes and noted the same defects in them. These lakes were devoid of agricultural chemicals. This conclusion is quite disturbing to know the far reaching effects of endocrine disruptors.

The story concluded by asking if the cost of wildlife losing potential due to endocrine disruptors is great enough to cause a change in policy of its regulation. I think banning all these chemicals would cause severe financial stress on the economy. It needs to be phased out as the base technology to manufacture everyday necessities changes from the chemicals which are endocrine disruptors. More research needs to be done into their effects and the experiments need to be reproducible. The industry also needs to find safer chemicals to make their products because at some point the chemicals which are endocrine disruptors will be banned just like DDT.

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