What happens when personal choice has public health consequences?

A new report finds that male fish are becoming feminized, and some are apparently even producing eggs. ‘The chemicals causing these effects include ingredients in the contraceptive pill, by-products of cleaning agents, plastics and cosmetics.’

Given the widely recognized decline in virility in men in Western Europe, where population density is high as is the use of oral contraceptives, questions surely must surely be asked whether flushing oral contraceptives into the water system is having a similar (if less pronounced) effect on people.

There seem to be some obvious barriers to such an inquest.  Like big tobacco, the reproductive industrial complex is huge and well-funded.  But in addition, the ideological commitment to using chemicals to control reproduction is so strong in a progressive vision of society that it is hard to imagine that the public health establishment will even ask the question.

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