Coumestrol A phytoestrogen - a natural plant compound with some estrogenic tendencies. DDT is banned in many countries but is still used extensively in equatorial countries to control mosquitoes and malaria. A breakdown product of detergents that are widely used in household products, in agricultural and industrial applications, and in plastics manufacturing. Nonylphenols are found in natural water bodies, sewage sludge and river sediments. We are all directly exposed to some environmental estrogens through our diet and industrial and household products including detergents, drugs, lubricants, cosmetics, pesticides and plastics.
Indirect exposure occurs when chemicals are released into the air and water.
Drinking water may also be contaminated by chemicals and their breakdown products found in industrial discharge and sewage effluent. Some proven environmental estrogens used as pesticides, most notably o,p'-DDT, toxaphene and dicofol, have been banned from use in most western industrial countries but are still used in many developing nations. Even though some of the more harmful substances have been banned in certain areas, we are all still vulnerable to their effects because they and their breakdown products remain in our environment. Our bodies carry some of these chemicals in fat and tissue and can pass them along to our children during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Soil, water and animals remain contaminated with some of these persistant pollutants.