WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.000 Penelope Jagessar Chaffer: I was going to ask if there's a doctor in the house. 00:00:03.000 --> 00:00:05.000 No, I'm just joking. 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:08.000 It's interesting, because it was six years ago 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:10.000 when I was pregnant with my first child 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:12.000 that I discovered 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:14.000 that the most commonly used preservative 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:16.000 in baby care products 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:18.000 mimics estrogen 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:20.000 when it gets into the human body. 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:22.000 Now it's very easy actually 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:24.000 to get a chemical compound from products 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:26.000 into the human body through the skin. 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:28.000 And these preservatives had been found 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:30.000 in breast cancer tumors. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:32.000 That was the start of my journey 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:34.000 to make this film, "Toxic Baby." 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:36.000 And it doesn't take much time 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:38.000 to discover some really astonishing statistics 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:40.000 with this issue. 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:43.000 One is that you and I all have 00:00:43.000 --> 00:00:45.000 between 30 to 50,000 chemicals 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:47.000 in our bodies 00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:49.000 that our grandparents didn't have. 00:00:49.000 --> 00:00:51.000 And many of these chemicals 00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:54.000 are now linked to the skyrocketing incidents 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:56.000 of chronic childhood disease 00:00:56.000 --> 00:00:59.000 that we're seeing across industrialized nations. 00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:01.000 I'll show you some statistics. 00:01:01.000 --> 00:01:03.000 So for example, in the United Kingdom, 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:05.000 the incidence of childhood leukemia 00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:08.000 has risen by 20 percent just in a generation. 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:11.000 Very similar statistic for childhood cancer in the U.S. 00:01:11.000 --> 00:01:15.000 In Canada, we're now looking at one in 10 Canadian children with asthma. 00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:18.000 That's a four-fold increase. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:20.000 Again, similar story around the world. 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:22.000 In the United States, 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:24.000 probably the most astonishing statistic 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:26.000 is a 600 percent increase 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:29.000 in autism and autistic spectrum disorders 00:01:29.000 --> 00:01:31.000 and other learning disabilities. 00:01:31.000 --> 00:01:33.000 Again, we're seeing that trend 00:01:33.000 --> 00:01:35.000 across Europe, across North America. 00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:37.000 And in Europe, 00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:39.000 there's certain parts of Europe, 00:01:39.000 --> 00:01:41.000 where we're seeing a four-fold increase 00:01:41.000 --> 00:01:44.000 in certain genital birth defects. 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:46.000 Interestingly, one of those birth defects 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:49.000 has seen a 200 percent increase in the U.S. 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:51.000 So a real skyrocketing 00:01:51.000 --> 00:01:53.000 of chronic childhood disease 00:01:53.000 --> 00:01:55.000 that includes other things 00:01:55.000 --> 00:01:57.000 like obesity and juvenile diabetes, 00:01:57.000 --> 00:01:59.000 premature puberty. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:01.000 So it's interesting for me, 00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:03.000 when I'm looking for someone who can really talk to me 00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:06.000 and talk to an audience about these things, 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:09.000 that probably one of the most important people in the world 00:02:09.000 --> 00:02:12.000 who can discuss toxicity in babies 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:14.000 is expert in frogs. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:16.000 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:19.000 Tyrone Hayes: It was a surprise to me as well 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:22.000 that I would be talking about pesticides, 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:26.000 that I'd be talking about public health, 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:29.000 because, in fact, I never thought I would do anything useful. 00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:32.000 (Laughter) 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:35.000 Frogs. 00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:38.000 In fact, my involvement in the whole pesticide issue 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:40.000 was sort of a surprise as well 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:43.000 when I was approached by the largest chemical company in the world 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:45.000 and they asked me if I would evaluate 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:48.000 how atrazine affected amphibians, or my frogs. 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:51.000 It turns out, atrazine is the largest selling product 00:02:51.000 --> 00:02:53.000 for the largest chemical company in the world. 00:02:53.000 --> 00:02:55.000 It's the number one contaminant 00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:58.000 of groundwater, drinking water, rain water. 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:01.000 In 2003, after my studies, it was banned in the European Union, 00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:03.000 but in that same year, 00:03:03.000 --> 00:03:05.000 the United States EPA re-registered the compound. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:08.000 We were a bit surprised when we found out 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:10.000 that when we exposed frogs 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:13.000 to very low levels of atrazine -- 0.1 parts per billion -- 00:03:13.000 --> 00:03:16.000 that it produced animals that look like this. 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:18.000 These are the dissected gonads of an animal 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:20.000 that has two testes, two ovaries, 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:22.000 another large testis, more ovaries, 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:24.000 which is not normal ... 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:26.000 (Laughter) 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:28.000 even for amphibians. 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:31.000 In some cases, another species like the North American Leopard Frog 00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:34.000 showed that males exposed to atrazine grew eggs in their testes. 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:36.000 And you can see these large, yolked-up eggs 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:39.000 bursting through the surface of this male's testes. 00:03:39.000 --> 00:03:42.000 Now my wife tells me, and I'm sure Penelope can as well, 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:45.000 that there's nothing more painful than childbirth -- 00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:48.000 which that I'll never experience, I can't really argue that -- 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:50.000 but I would guess that a dozen chicken eggs in my testicle 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:53.000 would probably be somewhere in the top five. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:55.000 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:57.000 In recent studies that we've published, 00:03:57.000 --> 00:03:59.000 we've shown that some of these animals when they're exposed to atrazine, 00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:01.000 some of the males grow up 00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:03.000 and completely become females. 00:04:03.000 --> 00:04:06.000 So these are actually two brothers consummating a relationship. 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:09.000 And not only do these genetic males mate with other males, 00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:11.000 they actually have the capacity to lay eggs 00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:14.000 even though they're genetic males. 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:16.000 What we proposed, 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:18.000 and what we've now generated support for, 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:20.000 is that what atrazine is doing 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:22.000 is wreaking havoc causing a hormone imbalance. 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:24.000 Normally the testes should make testosterone, 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:26.000 the male hormone. 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:29.000 But what atrazine does is it turns on an enzyme, 00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:31.000 the machinery if you will, aromatase, 00:04:31.000 --> 00:04:33.000 that converts testosterone into estrogen. 00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:35.000 And as a result, these exposed males 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:38.000 lose their testosterone, they're chemically castrated, 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:40.000 and they're subsequently feminized 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:42.000 because now they're making the female hormone. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:45.000 Now this is what brought me to the human-related issues. 00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:47.000 Because it turns out 00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:50.000 that the number one cancer in women, breast cancer, 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:53.000 is regulated by estrogen and by this enzyme aromatase. 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:55.000 So when you develop a cancerous cell in your breast, 00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:59.000 aromatase converts androgens into estrogens, 00:04:59.000 --> 00:05:01.000 and that estrogen turns on or promotes 00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:03.000 the growth of that cancer 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:06.000 so that it turns into a tumor and spreads. 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:09.000 In fact, this aromatase is so important in breast cancer 00:05:09.000 --> 00:05:12.000 that the latest treatment for breast cancer 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:14.000 is a chemical called letrozole, 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:16.000 which blocks aromatase, blocks estrogen, 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:19.000 so that if you developed a mutated cell, it doesn't grow into a tumor. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:21.000 Now what's interesting is, of course, 00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:24.000 that we're still using 80 million pounds of atrazine, 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:27.000 the number one contaminant in drinking water, that does the opposite -- 00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:29.000 turns on aromatase, increases estrogen 00:05:29.000 --> 00:05:31.000 and promotes tumors in rats 00:05:31.000 --> 00:05:35.000 and is associated with tumors, breast cancer, in humans. 00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:37.000 What's interesting is, in fact, 00:05:37.000 --> 00:05:39.000 the same company that sold us 80 million pounds of atrazine, 00:05:39.000 --> 00:05:41.000 the breast cancer promoter, 00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:44.000 now sells us the blocker -- the exact same company. 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:46.000 And so I find it interesting 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:48.000 that instead of treating this disease 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:51.000 by preventing exposure to the chemicals that promote it, 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:53.000 we simply respond 00:05:53.000 --> 00:05:56.000 by putting more chemicals into the environment. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:58.000 PJC: So speaking of estrogen, 00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:01.000 one of the other compounds that Tyrone talks about in the film 00:06:01.000 --> 00:06:04.000 is something called bisphenol A, BPA, 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:07.000 which has been in the news recently. 00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:09.000 It's a plasticizer. 00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:12.000 It's a compound that's found in polycarbonate plastic, 00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:14.000 which is what baby bottles are made out of. 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:16.000 And what's interesting about BPA 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:19.000 is that it's such a potent estrogen 00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:21.000 that it was actually once considered for use 00:06:21.000 --> 00:06:24.000 as a synthetic estrogen in hormone placement therapy. 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:27.000 And there have been many, many, many studies that have shown 00:06:27.000 --> 00:06:30.000 that BPA leaches from babies' bottles 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:32.000 into the formula, into the milk, 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:34.000 and therefore into the babies. 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:36.000 So we're dosing our babies, 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:38.000 our newborns, our infants, 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:40.000 with a synthetic estrogen. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:42.000 Now two weeks ago or so, 00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:44.000 the European Union passed a law 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:46.000 banning the use of BPA 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:48.000 in babies' bottles and sippy cups. 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:50.000 And for those of you who are not parents, 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:52.000 sippy cups are those little plastic things 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:55.000 that your child graduates to after using bottles. 00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:58.000 But just two weeks before that, 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:01.000 the U.S. Senate refused to even debate 00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:03.000 the banning of BPA 00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:06.000 in babies' bottles and sippy cups. 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:08.000 So it really makes you realize 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:10.000 the onus on parents 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:12.000 to have to look at this and regulate this and police this 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:14.000 in their own lives 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:16.000 and how astonishing that is. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:19.000 (Video) PJC: With many plastic baby bottles 00:07:19.000 --> 00:07:22.000 now proven to leak the chemical bisphenol A, 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:24.000 it really shows how sometimes 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:26.000 it is only a parent's awareness 00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:30.000 that stands between chemicals and our children. 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:32.000 The baby bottle scenario proves 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:35.000 that we can prevent unnecessary exposure. 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:37.000 However, if we parents are unaware, 00:07:37.000 --> 00:07:39.000 we are leaving our children 00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:42.000 to fend for themselves. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:50.000 TH: And what Penelope says here 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:52.000 is even more true. 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:55.000 For those of you who don't know, we're in the middle of the sixth mass extinction. 00:07:55.000 --> 00:07:57.000 Scientists agree now. 00:07:57.000 --> 00:07:59.000 We are losing species from the Earth 00:07:59.000 --> 00:08:01.000 faster than the dinosaurs disappeared, 00:08:01.000 --> 00:08:03.000 and leading that loss are amphibians. 00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:05.000 80 percent of all amphibians 00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:07.000 are threatened and in come decline. 00:08:07.000 --> 00:08:09.000 And I believe, many scientists believe 00:08:09.000 --> 00:08:12.000 that pesticides are an important part of that decline. 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:15.000 In part, amphibians are good indicators and more sensitive 00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:17.000 because they don't have protection from contaminants in the water -- 00:08:17.000 --> 00:08:19.000 no eggshells, no membranes 00:08:19.000 --> 00:08:21.000 and no placenta. 00:08:21.000 --> 00:08:24.000 In fact, our invention -- by "our" I mean we mammals -- 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:27.000 one of our big inventions was the placenta. 00:08:27.000 --> 00:08:29.000 But we also start out as aquatic organisms. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:29.000 --> 00:08:31.000 But it turns out that this ancient structure 00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:34.000 that separates us from other animals, the placenta, 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:36.000 cannot evolve or adapt fast enough 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:38.000 because of the rate that we're generating new chemicals 00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:40.000 that it's never seen before. 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:43.000 The evidence of that is that studies in rats, again with atrazine, 00:08:43.000 --> 00:08:46.000 show that the hormone imbalance atrazine generates causes abortion. 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:49.000 Because maintaining a pregnancy is dependent on hormones. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:49.000 --> 00:08:51.000 Of those rats that don't abort, 00:08:51.000 --> 00:08:53.000 atrazine causes prostate disease 00:08:53.000 --> 00:08:55.000 in the pups so the sons 00:08:55.000 --> 00:08:57.000 are born with an old man's disease. 00:08:57.000 --> 00:08:59.000 Of those that don't abort, 00:08:59.000 --> 00:09:01.000 atrazine causes impaired mammary, or breast, development 00:09:01.000 --> 00:09:03.000 in the exposed daughters in utero, 00:09:03.000 --> 00:09:05.000 so that their breast don't develop properly. 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:07.000 And as a result, when those rats grow up, 00:09:07.000 --> 00:09:10.000 their pups experience retarded growth and development 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:13.000 because they can't make enough milk to nourish their pups. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:13.000 --> 00:09:16.000 So the pup you see on the bottom is affected by atrazine 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:18.000 that its grandmother was exposed to. 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:21.000 And given the life of many of these chemicals, 00:09:21.000 --> 00:09:24.000 generations, years, dozens of years, 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:26.000 that means that we right now 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:28.000 are affecting the health 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:30.000 of our grandchildren's grandchildren 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:33.000 by things that we're putting into the environment today. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:33.000 --> 00:09:35.000 And this is not just philosophical, it's already known, 00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:37.000 that chemicals like diethylstilbestrol and estrogen, 00:09:37.000 --> 00:09:39.000 PCBs, DDT 00:09:39.000 --> 00:09:41.000 cross the placenta 00:09:41.000 --> 00:09:43.000 and effectively determine 00:09:43.000 --> 00:09:45.000 the likelihood of developing breast cancer 00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:47.000 and obesity and diabetes 00:09:47.000 --> 00:09:49.000 already when the baby's in the womb. 00:09:49.000 --> 00:09:51.000 In addition to that, after the baby's born, 00:09:51.000 --> 00:09:53.000 our other unique invention as mammals 00:09:53.000 --> 00:09:55.000 is that we nourish our offspring after they're born. 00:09:55.000 --> 00:09:57.000 We already know that chemicals 00:09:57.000 --> 00:09:59.000 like DDT and DES and atrazine 00:09:59.000 --> 00:10:01.000 can also pass over into milk, 00:10:01.000 --> 00:10:03.000 again, affecting our babies 00:10:03.000 --> 00:10:05.000 even after their born. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:08.000 PJC: So when Tyrone tells me 00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:11.000 that the placenta is an ancient organ, 00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:13.000 I'm thinking, how do I demonstrate that? 00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:15.000 How do you show that? 00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:17.000 And it's interesting when you make a film like this, 00:10:17.000 --> 00:10:20.000 because you're stuck trying to visualize science 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:22.000 that there's no visualization for. 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:25.000 And I have to take a little bit of artistic license. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:35.000 (Video) (Ringing) 00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:37.000 Old man: Placenta control. 00:10:37.000 --> 00:10:39.000 What is it? 00:10:39.000 --> 00:10:42.000 Oh what? 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:45.000 (Snoring) 00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:50.000 (Honk) 00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:54.000 Puffuffuff, what? 00:10:56.000 --> 00:11:00.000 Perflourooctanoic acid. 00:11:03.000 --> 00:11:05.000 Blimey. 00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:08.000 Never heard of it. 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:12.000 PJC: And neither had I actually 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:14.000 before I started making this film. 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:17.000 And so when you realize that chemicals can pass the placenta 00:11:17.000 --> 00:11:20.000 and go into your unborn child, 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:22.000 it made me start to think, 00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:25.000 what would my fetus say to me? 00:11:25.000 --> 00:11:28.000 What would our unborn children say to us 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:31.000 when they have an exposure 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:34.000 that's happening everyday, day after day? NOTE Paragraph 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:52.000 (Music) NOTE Paragraph 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:54.000 (Video) Child: Today, 00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:58.000 I had some octyphenols, 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:01.000 some artificial musks 00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:06.000 and some bisphenol A. 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:08.000 Help me. NOTE Paragraph 00:12:11.000 --> 00:12:14.000 PJC: It's a very profound notion 00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:16.000 to know that we as women 00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:18.000 are at the vanguard of this. 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:20.000 This is our issue, 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:23.000 because we collect these compounds our entire life 00:12:23.000 --> 00:12:26.000 and then we end up dumping it and dumping them 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:29.000 into our unborn children. 00:12:29.000 --> 00:12:31.000 We are in effect 00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:33.000 polluting our children. 00:12:33.000 --> 00:12:37.000 And this was something that was really brought home to me a year ago 00:12:37.000 --> 00:12:39.000 when I found out I was pregnant 00:12:39.000 --> 00:12:41.000 and the first scan revealed 00:12:41.000 --> 00:12:44.000 that my baby had a birth defect 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:46.000 associated with exposure 00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:48.000 to estrogenic chemicals in the womb 00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:50.000 and the second scan 00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:52.000 revealed no heartbeat. NOTE Paragraph 00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:55.000 So my child's death, my baby's death, 00:12:55.000 --> 00:12:58.000 really brought home the resonance of what I was trying to make in this film. 00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:00.000 And it's sometimes a weird place 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:03.000 when the communicator becomes part of the story, 00:13:03.000 --> 00:13:05.000 which is not what you originally intend. 00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:08.000 And so when Tyrone talks about 00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:11.000 the fetus being trapped in a contaminated environment, 00:13:11.000 --> 00:13:15.000 this is my contaminated environment. 00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:18.000 This is my toxic baby. 00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:21.000 And that's something 00:13:21.000 --> 00:13:24.000 that's just profound and sad, 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:26.000 but astonishing 00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:29.000 because so many of us don't actually know this. NOTE Paragraph 00:13:31.000 --> 00:13:33.000 TH: One of this things that's exciting and appropriate 00:13:33.000 --> 00:13:35.000 for me to be here at TEDWomen 00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:39.000 is that, well, I think it was summed up best last night at dinner 00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:41.000 when someone said, "Turn to the man at your table and tell them, 00:13:41.000 --> 00:13:44.000 'When the revolution starts, we've got your back.'" 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:46.000 The truth is, women, 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:49.000 you've had our back on this issue for a very long time, 00:13:49.000 --> 00:13:51.000 starting with Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" 00:13:51.000 --> 00:13:53.000 to Theo Colborn's "Our Stolen Future" 00:13:53.000 --> 00:13:55.000 to Sandra Steingraber's books 00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:58.000 "Living Downstream" and "Having Faith." 00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:01.000 And perhaps it's the connection to our next generation -- 00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:04.000 like my wife and my beautiful daughter here about 13 years ago -- 00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:06.000 perhaps it's that connection 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:08.000 that makes women activists 00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:10.000 in this particular area. NOTE Paragraph 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:12.000 But for the men here, I want to say 00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:14.000 it's not just women and children that are at risk. 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:17.000 And the frogs that are exposed to atrazine, 00:14:17.000 --> 00:14:19.000 the testes are full of holes and spaces, 00:14:19.000 --> 00:14:21.000 because the hormone imbalance, 00:14:21.000 --> 00:14:23.000 instead of allowing sperm to be generated, 00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:25.000 such as in the testis here, 00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:27.000 the testicular tubules end up empty 00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:29.000 and fertility goes down by as much as 50 percent. 00:14:29.000 --> 00:14:32.000 It's not just my work in amphibians, 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:35.000 but similar work has been shown in fish in Europe, 00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:38.000 holes in the testes and absence of sperm in reptiles in a group from South America 00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:40.000 and in rats, an absence of sperm 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:43.000 in the testicular tubules as well. 00:14:43.000 --> 00:14:45.000 And of course, we don't do these experiments in humans, 00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:47.000 but just by coincidence, 00:14:47.000 --> 00:14:49.000 my colleague has shown 00:14:49.000 --> 00:14:51.000 that men who have low sperm count, low semen quality 00:14:51.000 --> 00:14:54.000 have significantly more atrazine in their urine. NOTE Paragraph 00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:56.000 These are just men who live 00:14:56.000 --> 00:14:58.000 in an agricultural community. 00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:00.000 Men who actually work in agriculture 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:03.000 have much higher levels of atrazine. 00:15:03.000 --> 00:15:05.000 And the men who actually apply atrazine 00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:08.000 have even more atrazine in their urine, 00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:11.000 up to levels that are 24,000 times what we know to be active 00:15:11.000 --> 00:15:14.000 are present in the urine of these men. 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:17.000 Of course, most of them, 90 percent are Mexican, Mexican-American. 00:15:17.000 --> 00:15:19.000 And it's not just atrazine they're exposed to. 00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:22.000 They're exposed to chemicals like chloropicrin, 00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:24.000 which was originally used as a nerve gas. 00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:26.000 And many of these workers 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:28.000 have life expectancies of only 50. NOTE Paragraph 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:31.000 It shouldn't come to any surprise that the things that happen in wildlife 00:15:31.000 --> 00:15:33.000 are also a warning to us, 00:15:33.000 --> 00:15:35.000 just like Rachel Carson and others have warned. 00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:38.000 As evident in this slide from Lake Nabugabo in Uganda, 00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:40.000 the agricultural runoff from this crop, 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:42.000 which goes into these buckets, 00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:45.000 is the sole source of drinking, cooking and bathing water for this village. 00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:47.000 Now if I told the men in this village 00:15:47.000 --> 00:15:49.000 that the frogs have pour immune function 00:15:49.000 --> 00:15:51.000 and eggs developing in their testes, 00:15:51.000 --> 00:15:53.000 the connection between environmental health and public health 00:15:53.000 --> 00:15:55.000 would be clear. 00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:58.000 You would not drink water that you knew was having this kind of impact 00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:00.000 on the wildlife that lived in it. 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:02.000 The problem is, in my village, Oakland, 00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:04.000 in most of our villages, 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:06.000 we don't see that connection. 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:08.000 We turn on the faucet, the water comes out, we assume it's safe, 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:11.000 and we assume that we are masters of our environment, 00:16:11.000 --> 00:16:14.000 rather than being part of it. NOTE Paragraph 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:16.000 PJC: So it doesn't take much to realize 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:19.000 that actually this is an environmental issue. 00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:22.000 And I kept thinking over and over again 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:24.000 this question. 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:27.000 We know so much about global warming and climate change, 00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:29.000 and yet, we have no concept 00:16:29.000 --> 00:16:31.000 of what I've been calling internal environmentalism. 00:16:31.000 --> 00:16:33.000 We know what we're putting out there, 00:16:33.000 --> 00:16:35.000 we have a sense of those repercussions, 00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:37.000 but we are so ignorant of this sense 00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:40.000 of what happens when we put things, or things are put 00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:42.000 into our bodies. NOTE Paragraph 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:44.000 And it's my feeling 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:46.000 and it's my urging being here 00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:48.000 to know that, as we women move forward 00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:50.000 as the communicators of this, 00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:53.000 but also as the ones who carry that burden 00:16:53.000 --> 00:16:56.000 of carrying the children, bearing the children, 00:16:56.000 --> 00:16:59.000 we hold most of the buying power in the household, 00:16:59.000 --> 00:17:02.000 is that it's going to be us moving forward 00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:05.000 to carry the work of Tyrone and other scientists around the world. 00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:07.000 And my urging is 00:17:07.000 --> 00:17:09.000 that when we think about environmental issues 00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:13.000 that we remember that it's not just about melting glaciers and ice caps, 00:17:13.000 --> 00:17:15.000 but it's also about our children as well. NOTE Paragraph 00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:17.000 Thank you. NOTE Paragraph 00:17:17.000 --> 00:17:27.000 (Applause)