The practice of medicine has increasingly moved in the direction of using medications containing steroids to control disease or regulate function, i.e., conception control pills. To meet these demands, the pharmaceutical industry produces enormous amounts of these drugs. But, what happens to the drug once it enters the body? While some are destroyed in controlling disease or regulating a function like ovulation, a certain amount is not. It is excreted. There is real concern about the amount medical steroids entering the environment in this way. What effects might they have on the public who unintentionally ingest these as environmental contaminants? Consider the topics of sexual reproduction, regulation of hormonal cycles, fetal development and explain: 1. how you might go about determining what would be 'acceptable levels' of such contaminants; 2. what might happen should these levels be exceeded; and 3. what steps might be taken to control such environmental contamination.
What is a hormone? How do they function in regulating sperm and egg maturation, ovulation and pregnancy? Who regulates what is 'acceptable' in the environment? What public agencies are responsible for monitoring the level of such excreted hormones in locate water ways? Is there an agency that collects and reports this data?
