Are Whale Eaters Girly Men?
Volume LXI · No. 3 · Madeira, Portugal · Wednesday June 24, 2009
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Some of the newest findings involving a number of pollutants now found in whale and dolphin meat (e.g. PCBs, dioxins, and PBDEs) suggest these chemicals act as hormone mimics. What this means is that the human body (and that of other mammals, including whales) may react to chemical pollution in the same way the body reacts to hormones that determine secondary sexual characteristics, or even the sex of an individual.
Most health scares are about toxic reactions and cancer inducing chemicals, but hormone mimics can be just as devastating.
For example, researchers note that sperm counts in Japanese males are decreasing, which may in part reflect their diet of fish and cetaceans from high trophic levels in the seas (and therefore having higher levels of contamination).
Another effect is a likely change in sex ratios. In northern Greenland, in recent years only female babies have been bornÑno males have been born. Studies suggest a strong correlation between PCB exposure and the sex ratios of babies. Further studies are in the works.