# Are females hormones leaking in the environment?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-females-hormones-leaking-in-the-environment/423893
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 25, 2007, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-females-hormones-leaking-in-the-environment/423893 "2007-10-25T00:19:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@solkoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solkoe)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2007, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-females-hormones-leaking-in-the-environment/423893/1 "2007-10-25T00:19:07Z")
Hormone infested urine from women using the pill must be entering the water supply. Have any studies been done of the effect of this on men?
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2007, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-females-hormones-leaking-in-the-environment/423893/2 "2007-10-25T00:23:23Z")
So you’re okay with the notion of urine getting into your water, but hormones worry you?
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### Author:  [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2007, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-females-hormones-leaking-in-the-environment/423893/3 "2007-10-25T00:25:06Z")
“Infested”?
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### Author:  [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2007, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-females-hormones-leaking-in-the-environment/423893/4 "2007-10-25T00:26:11Z")
It’s not just female hormones. Antidepressants, prescription drugs like Percocet and Vicodin, and many other regulated substances are flushed into the sewer system and into the water supply on a regular basis. I do not know what effect they have on humans, dilute as they are, but I have heard reports of male fish found with vestigal female sex characteristics.
Here’s an article about it [if you are curious.](http://www.ag.arizona.edu/AZWATER/awr/july00/feature1.htm)
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### Author:  [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2007, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-females-hormones-leaking-in-the-environment/423893/5 "2007-10-25T00:34:19Z")
[This article from Scientific American](http://www.sciam.com/askexpert_question.cfm?articleID=0009AB0C-8000-1C71-9EB7809EC588F2D7&modsrc=related_links), although not about _exactly_ what you asked, should be of some interest.
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### Author:  [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2007, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-females-hormones-leaking-in-the-environment/423893/6 "2007-10-25T01:02:28Z")
[QUOTE=Inner Stickler]
It’s not just female hormones. Antidepressants, prescription drugs like Percocet and Vicodin, and many other regulated substances are flushed into the sewer system and into the water supply on a regular basis. I do not know what effect they have on humans, dilute as they are, but I have heard reports of male fish found with vestigal female sex characteristics.
Here’s an article about it [if you are curious.](http://www.ag.arizona.edu/AZWATER/awr/july00/feature1.htm)
[/QUOTE]
[Oddly enough, here’s another article on that subject.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/070831.html)
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### Author:  [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2007, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-females-hormones-leaking-in-the-environment/423893/7 "2007-10-25T02:56:20Z")
I suspect long-term low-level exposure to these (and other) chemicals are a critical sort of background noise. It may be so pervasive that we cannot easily see their dramatic effects.
Or not.
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### Author:  [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2007, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-females-hormones-leaking-in-the-environment/423893/8 "2007-10-25T05:33:27Z")
[QUOTE=Una Persson]
[Oddly enough, here’s another article on that subject.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/070831.html)
[/QUOTE]
:smack: I don’t like the search function for the SD archive. It never seems to return the results I want. Therefore, I never think to use it. I will try to do better in the future.
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### Author:  [@Playkcab](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Playkcab)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2007, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-females-hormones-leaking-in-the-environment/423893/9 "2007-10-25T06:00:43Z")
I’m not sure, but gosh are my moobs sensitive today.
I know a conspiracy nut that believes the hormones from birth control are intentionally leaked into our environment by some sort of feminist New World Order, to subjugate men. :rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@nealybobs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nealybobs)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2007, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-females-hormones-leaking-in-the-environment/423893/10 "2007-10-25T09:22:11Z")
General Ripper, is that you?