Hormone-Disrupting Contaminants in Great Lakes

A research geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey has reported the presence of potentially harmful chemical compounds called alkylphenols throughout the Great Lakes and Upper Mississippi River. The chemicals, which have come through wastewater treatment plants as effluent into the waters of the lakes and the Upper Mississippi, are known as hormone-disrupting compounds, which means that they affect the normal hormone levels of fish, lowering estrogen in females and elevating it in males. (Scientific American)