Fish, Plastics and Sex?
The endocrine system is the system in the body of an organism that controls our hormones. As such, it’s critical for functions we all know well including stress before a deadline, the infamous running high, the dreaded PMS, sexual pleasures and arguably most importantly, reproduction (critical to maintaining a population). “Well, fish are often used in scientific research assessing the endocrine disrupting hazards of chemicals on wildlife. Fish are a) important for human consumption, b) arguably great ecological indicators of the health of aquatic habitats, c) sensitive to endocrine disruption and d) live in regions that ultimately receive our waste. As such, fish are exposed to many of the chemicals produced and consumed by us and we must understand the hazards of the cocktail of contaminants entering our water bodies. Our results show early-warning signs of endocrine disruption in fish exposed to a mixture of plastic and sorbed contaminants, suggesting that plastic marine debris, reportedly ingested by multiple wildlife species, may alter the functioning of the endocrine system in aquatic animals.
Most importantly, we report evidence at the molecular and organ level, for disruption to the endocrine system caused by the “cocktail” of contaminants deployed in an urban bay. Of major concern should be the permanent effects that exposure can have during critical early- life stages of organism development, which may impair reproductive success and harm wildlife populations . Chronic exposure is typical of marine plastic debris as it accumulates in habitats and is a persistent material that can last for decades.”
Chelsea runs an outreach program ,which specifically aims to teach kids about how plastic debris and other pollutants enters the marine environment, how the chemicals associated with the plastics and the plastics can move through the food chain and how that impacts wildlife. Please contact Chelsea for more information on lesson plans for teachers, and/or to schedule a classroom visit if you are local to Toronto, Canada.
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