Assessment of Feminization of Male Fish in English Rivers by the Environment Agency of England and Wales

Abstract

In recent years there has been considerable concern over the ability of substances discharged into the environment to disrupt the normal endocrine function of wildlife. In particular, the apparent widespread feminization of male fish in rivers has received significant attention from regulators in the United Kingdom, the United States, Europe, and Japan. The U.K. and European epidemiological data sets have demonstrated that the occurrence of feminized fish is associated with effluent discharges and that the incidence and severity is positively correlated with the proportion of treated sewage effluent in receiving waters. Although weakly estrogenic substances may contribute to the overall effect, studies have concluded that steroid estrogens are the principal and most potent estrogenic components of domestic sewage. Extensive laboratory data sets confirm that steroid estrogens are capable of eliciting the effects observed in wild fish at concentrations that have been measured in effluents and in the environment. Based on evaluation of the available information, the Environment Agency (England and Wales) has concluded that the weight of evidence for endocrine disruption in fish is sufficient to develop a risk management strategy for estrogenically active effluents that discharge to the aquatic environment.

Use of TIE techniques to characterize industrial effluents in the Pearl River Delta region

“…These highest concentrations are above the predicated no-effect concentrations (PNEC) (4-t-OP: 0.12 mg/L; 4-NP: 1.12 mg/L; BPA: 1.5 mg/L; E1: 3 Â 10 À 3 mg/L; E2: 1.5 Â 10 À 3 mg/L and TCS: 5.8 Â 10 À 2 mg/L) for these EDCs to aquatic organisms (Nwaogu et al, 2008;EC, 2002EC, , 2010EC, , 2007EC, , 2009Gross-Sorokin et al, 2007;Zhao et al, 2011Zhao et al, , 2010Maycock et al, 2007;EU, 2008) . Discharge of these effluents might affect the organisms in the receiving environments although the adverse effects will not be acute.…”

Drug-pollution law all washed up

“…Some males also produce vitellogenin, a protein normally found in eggs that can be induced in males by hormone exposure 1,2 . In one of the largest studies of the problem, the UK government's Environment Agency found in 2004 that 86% of male fish sampled at 51 sites around the country were intersex.…”

“…One study 2 recorded adverse effects in species living in water containing 1 ng l −1 of EE2, for example, and predicted a 'no effect' level of 0.2 ng l −1…”

Coupled reversion and stream-hyporheic exchange processes increase environmental persistence of trenbolone metabolites

“…Inclusion of bioactivity metrics in a similar framework is a logical extension of this concept. We note that the concept of JBA is beginning to be addressed using regulatory concepts such as 'predicted no-effect concentrations (PNECs)' for which mixture bioactivity is the key metric of interest rather than any single concentration of individual constituents 19,20 . Indeed, it is probably most logical to move away from regulatory approaches structured around individual constituents in general, and towards biologically driven end points such as those structured within adverse outcome pathways 21 .…”