Environmental estrogens are probably the most logical cause. Environmental scientists have begun to notice that several wildlife species are experiencing hermaphroditic traits. In the Florida swamplands, alligators are simply not breeding. A concerned research team from the University of Florida went into the swamps to find out why. These researchers pulled male alligators out of the water to examine their genitals. The majority of male alligators found were sterile as a result of having either nondeveloped or abnormally shaped penises. A chemical spill in nearby waters was found to be the culprit-it was having an estrogenic effect on the alligators’ natural habitat.
Meanwhile, some 1,400 miles north, in a Canadian creek on Lake Superior, scientists found that fish living in waters close to a pulp mill, which contained certain chemicals with estrogenic effects, were now complete hermaphrodites. The male fish in these waters had developed ovaries and were sterile; the female fish had exaggerated ovaries. In other contaminated waters, fish had actually exploded from thyroid hormone overactivity.
Researchers in Sweden and the United Kingdom have been concerned since the late 1980s over a dramatic increase in male infertility in their countries, while there is an increased incidence of male infants being born with cryptorchidism, a condition in which the testicles do not descend into the scrotum, but remain undescended inside the abdomen. One study found that there has indeed been a huge decrease over the last fifty years in the quality of human semen. (A recent study measuring sperm quality in New York City contradicted these findings.) There has also been a huge increase in the incidence of testicular and prostate cancers. In Britain testicular cancer incidence has tripled over the last fifty years; it is now the most common cancer in young men under thirty. In Denmark there has been a 400 percent increase in testicular cancer. As for prostate cancer, its incidence has doubled over the last decade. These male reproductive problems have been linked to environmental estrogens, too.
The scientific literature is slowly becoming saturated with findings linking one organic chemical after another to reproductive cancers and “endocrine disruption” in both wildlife and humans. Every study, from all corners of the world, is reaching the same conclusion: organic chemicals are transforming into environmental estrogens. And they’re everywhere. Organic chemicals are found in the air we breathe from numerous air pollutants, in the food preservatives used in numerous canned and packaged goods, and in the pesticides used on fresh produce. These chemicals then contaminate the water and soil, which contaminate the entire human food chain.
Some suggest that environmental estrogens are “feminizing” the planet. Others suggest that women are being overloaded with estrogen, which may be associated with the rise of estrogen-dependent cancers, such as ovarian and breast cancer, as well as estrogen-related conditions, such as endometriosis and fibroids. Estrogen pollutants are also thought to accumulate in fatty tissues (meaning they are stored in fat). Since women generally carry more body fat than men, women may be accumulating more of these toxins. Some studies have already found that women with breast cancer tended to have higher concentrations of the organochlorines DDT and DDE or of PCBs in their fat tissue. In fact, elevated levels of DDE in the blood have been directly linked to a fourfold increase of breast cancer in the United States. We already know that dioxins, also organochlorines, are associated with endometriosis.
Some suggest that the picture is equally dismal for men, many of whom are not only becoming slowly sterilized by this phenomenon, but are also developing reproductive cancers. Several prominent scientists have gone on record to say that this problem is the environmental priority of the twenty-first century!
On the flip side, many doctors point out that in the Western world, there has been a huge increase in the “fatness” of the population. This also increases the level of estrogen produced by our bodies. Estrogen dominance can trigger more estrogen-dependent conditions, such as fibroids, endometriosis, and various estrogen-dependent cancers.
Other Theories
There are a few other worthwhile theories on the causes of endometriosis. One is the theory of retrograde menstruation, also known as the transtubal migration theory. During menstruation, some of the menstrual tissue backs up into the fallopian tubes, is implanted in the abdomen, and grows. Some researchers believe that all women experience some menstrual tissue backup, which is normally taken care of by their immune systems. An immune system problem or hormonal problem allows this tissue to take root and develop into endometriosis.
Another theory suggests that the endometrial tissue is distributed from the uterus to other parts of the body through the lymphatic system or blood system. A genetic theory suggests that it may be carried in the genes of certain families or that certain families may be predisposed to the disease.
The most interesting theory proposes that remnants of the woman’s embryonic tissue (from when she herself was an embryo) may later develop into endometriosis or that some adult tissues retain the ability they had in the embryo stage to transform into reproductive tissue under certain circumstances.
Surgical transplantation of endometrial tissue has been cited as the cause in cases where endometriosis is found in abdominal surgery scars. This latter theory is certainly not possible if endometriosis occurs when surgery doesn’t!
