The Sierra Club asked the federal government today to ban a toxic chemical that is found in laundry detergents. The Sierra Club believes that this chemical causes harm to male fish and their reproductive capabilities.

The Environmental News Network writes

Scientists have documented so-called intersex fish in U.S. waters in the last decade, including the southern Great Lakes, the Potomac River watershed and the Southern California coast. The reasons for the problem aren’t fully known, but researchers suspect it is rooted in wastewater and farm runoff polluted with chemicals that are estrogenic, meaning they stimulate estrogen production. NPEs [nonylphenol ethoxylates] are one of them.

NPEs are not tightly restricted in the United States and the Sierra Club believes that this lack of regulation surrounding the chemical and its use can — and should — be directly linked to these abnormalities.

More scientific research is needed before this link can be conclusive, however, Canada and Europe both have stronger and more restrictive regulations than the United States. That might be a good place to start!

via environmental news network
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