Ethinyloestradiol -: an undesired fish contraceptive?

Environmental oestrogens are natural or synthetic substances present in the environment, which imitate the effects of endogenous oestrogen. Oestrogenic substances were identified by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry in effluent water from a Swedish sewage treatment works receiving mainly domestic wastewater. Substances found include the synthetic oestrogen used in contraceptives 17 alpha-ethinyloestradiol (4.5 ng l(-1)), the natural oestrogens oestrone (5.8 ng l(-1)) and 17 beta-oestradiol (1.1 ng l(-1)), and the weaker non-steroidal oestrogens 4-nonylphenol (840 ng l(-1)) and bisphenol A (490 ng l(-1)). Ethinyloestradiol exceeded levels shown to be oestrogenic to fish by 45 times. The oestrogenicity of the effluent water was investigated by introducing juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in cages downstream of the sewage treatment works. After 2 weeks, all oestrogens indicated were present in the bile of the fish, and the oestrogen inducible protein, vitellogenin, was found in large amounts in the plasma (1.5 mg ml(-1)), as determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and Western blotting. Thus, a widely used synthetic oestrogen affects the endocrine systems of fish exposed to sewage effluent water. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.