Men's worst fear on tap

FORGET the fluoride debate - two Sunshine Coast councils are considering adding something to the water that shrinks male genitals.
That's the theory and Maroochy and Caloundra councils are taking it seriously as they consider whether to augment dwindling domestic water supplies with treated sewage.
Treat it all you like says Sunshine Coast plumber Laurie Jones of Buddina, you can't remove gender-bending hormones that give men female characteristics or shrink and deform male sexual organs.
"I have researched this extensively," Mr Jones said. "As a plumber I know what goes down sewers. It includes hospital and abattoir waste and industrial chemicals.
"The technology is experimental. On the Sunshine Coast we certainly don't want to be treated as guinea pigs."
Mr Jones, a plumber for 32 years, said a letter between the councils indicated treated effluent could be added to drinking water by 2003.
The proposal will be discussed by council and State Government officials tomorrow.
Caloundra city engineer Ron Piper said he was investigating Mr Jones' claims.
He said the region's population boom meant a new dam would have to be built by 2010 if sewage was not re-used for drinking water.
"We are going to use ozonation and activated carbon to remove hormones," he said.
"One of the difficulties with removing hormones is actually detecting them but we will assume they are there."
Mr Piper, chairman of the Caloundra-Maroochy waste water strategy steering committee, said: "I live here.
I've got two young kids and I have no intention of them being guinea pigs."
Mr Jones said he had gathered scientific research, including reports from the National Health and Medical Research Council, World Health Organisation and Queensland Department of National Resources, which found it unacceptable to add treated sewage to water supplies.
He said many of the reports linked hormone-disrupting chemicals-substances found in plastics, detergents, pesticides and other common products - with a range of horrifying effects.
Mr Jones said moves to reuse the effluent had resulted from political pressure by landholders and environmentalists opposed to construction of a badly needed new water supply dam in the Sunshine Coast hinterland.
Queensland Fertility Group scientific director Keith Harrison said scientists around the world were worried about the feminising effects of synthetic hormones in polluted water.
"If you look at the length of alligator penises in polluted lakes in Florida, their penises are getting smaller and all the male alligators are becoming feminised," he said.
"A good number of pesticides, most plasticisers and some detergents mimic the female hormone oestrogen.
"If you get these things from water they are fat soluble. They lodge in the body and stay there for a fair length of time."
Mr Harrison said it was probably all right to recycle sewage for industrial use.
"But to be recycled for drinking water is a bit scary until we know more about the risks of doing it," he said.

By STEPHEN LAMBLE

The Sunday Mail January 18, 1998 Page 7.

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