The risk for birth defects increased to 7 percent for those living close to landfills with hazardous waste. Researchers do not know why congenital defects are associated with landfills and cannot say the dumps cause the defects. Smoking and alcohol, the researchers admit, pose much higher health risks to developing babies than the landfills. The study examined 9,500 landfills and 8 million pregnancies. Risk of adverse birth outcomes in populations living near landfill sites .
Male fish develop eggs in testes .
Male fish exposed to low levels of nonylphenol, a chemical found in detergents and used to make plasticizers, developed eggs in their testes, according to the Japanese Times Online and announced by the Our Stolen Future web site. The research results show that fish are susceptible to concentrations of nonylphenol found in the environment. Medaka fish were feminized after exposure to 11.6 micrograms of nonylphenol per liter of water. No effects were found at concentrations less than 0.6 micrograms per liter. Researchers said the fish's receptors are much more sensitive to the chemical than human estrogen receptors.