Contraceptive Pills Contribute To Environmental Pollution, Male Infertility, Catholic Medical Official Says

Main Category: Sexual Health / STDs
Also Included In: Public Health;  Fertility;  Men's health
Article Date: 07 Jan 2009 - 1:00 PST

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An official from the World Federation of Catholic Medical Associations said in a report in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano that contraceptive pills pollute the environment and contribute to male infertility, AFP/Google.com reports. In the newspaper, federation President Pedro Jose Maria Simon Castellvi said that the pill "has for some years had devastating effects on the environment by releasing tons of hormones into nature" through female urine. He added, "We have sufficient evidence to state that a non-negligible cause of male infertility in the West is the environmental pollution caused by the pill." Castellvi did not elaborate further, AFP/Google.com reports.

According to AFP/Google.com, several organizations dismissed Castellvi's claims. Flavia Franconi of the Society of Italian Pharmacology said that the hormones contained in the pill, such as estrogen, "are present everywhere ... in plastics, in disinfectants, in meat that we eat." Gianbenedetto Melis, vice president of a contraceptive research organization, said, "Once metabolized, the hormones contained in oral contraceptives no longer have any of the characteristic effects of feminine hormones."

Castellvi's report follows Pope Benedict XVI's October reaffirmation that the Roman Catholic Church opposes contraception use (AFP/Google.com, 1/4).

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