Waste from the birth control pills alter the sexuality of the marine fauna.

-pollution mutates the sexual organs of the fauna marina, forming dysfunctional penises among females and female gametes between males

-pollution of marine fauna can lead to food poisoning in humans

-species ‘ sentry ’ allow control, through biomarkers at molecular, cellular and tissue, level the pollution of waters

Bilbao, February 2012.- air pollution is not a unique phenomenon of major disasters, such as the triggered by the escape of oil from a freighter or the explosion of a nuclear power station.

All waste that we generate end up in the sea or on the coast ”, says Dr. Manuel Soto, invited the humanistic activities week organized by the Academy of medical sciences of Bilbao. During his presentation, entitled oceans and health ”, Soto introduced a diminished health of our oceans, owing aggressions suffered by a minor but constant pollution and that it can affect irreversibly on the marine ecosystem, thereby on the economy and the health of the coastal population.

Dr. Soto is a professor in the Department of zoology and Animal cell biology of the Faculty of science and technology of the BASQUE country. It ensures that the contamination of the marine fauna can lead to food poisoning in humans, such as those produced by an excess of mercury in contaminated fish. He adds, however, that there is a great control and care, under the aegis of common European rules, which makes that these extreme cases will exceptionally. The main danger lies in the extinction of species that depend on economically several groups of the fishing industry ”, added the expert.

In this regard, Dr. Soto explained that the expulsion of waste purged into the sea, despite being highly effective, does not guarantee the balance of the ecosystem receiving. Highlights the damage in the case of waste from birth control pills, whose molecules have not been completely purified before releasing them to the sea, and are absorbed by many coastal species. These molecules, many of these hormones, affect significantly on the endocrine system of fish and mollusks, generating hermaphroditic organisms unable to reproduce ”, says Professor of the BASQUE country. One of the most visible consequences is the appearance of a penis dysfunctional among females, and female gametes between males.

According to Soto, a series of pollutants are detecting emerging to further hinder the prevention in the pollution of the sea. It is the case of the nanoparticulas, commonly used in Sun protection creams or in some washing to prevent growth of bacteria in clothing (Silver nanoparticulas), due to their small size, are very hard to debug, but very easy to assimilate by organisms that are exposed to them, and therefore cause negative changes in your body.

Sentinels of contamination

How to prevent the consequences of this silent but steady pollution? Professor Soto explains the fundamental role of a number of marine species which operate as gauges of the pollution of our waters. This is the so-called ‘ agencies Sentinel ’, invertebrates and fish through which water pollution levels can be measured. They began to be used for more than three decades in United States, with the famous Mussel Watch (mussel-watch), so filtering animals, registered immediately and reliable in its body the State of health of estuarine and coastal waters.

These species are not only reduced to mussels, if not other mollusks and various fish. Flat fish, for example, help us to measure contamination in sediment ”, adds Dr. Soto. To check the alterations caused by pollution of the marine environment, examines a range of biomarkers at the molecular, cellular and tissue level based on data obtained from these species Sentinel. These biomarkers will allow us to lower levels of very simple analysis, such as proteins or DNA variations, before it occurs an irreversible effect, allowing us to give the alarm signal before irreversible damage occurs in the local ecosystem ”, concludes assuring Professor Soto.

The Humanities week of the Academy of medical sciences of Bilbao, which he has held without interruption since 1973 and which this year is dedicated to the sea, also addressed other issues such as the role of the Red Cross of sea rescues and shipwrecks, the marketing of fish in the modern age, or the contribution of the anisakis allergy to fish.