Women's Urine May Be Threatening Fertility

The urine of women who take the contraceptive pill is changing the sex of male fish and could also be making Englishmen less fertile, a newspaper reported.

Fears for the sperm count, in decline for decades, arose after Environment Agency research showed that half of all the male fish in low-lying English rivers were changing sex as a result of water pollution, the Independent on Sunday said.

The research showed that an "exquisitely potent" form of the female hormone estrogen, found in the urine of women taking contraceptive pills, was flushed through sewage works into rivers--a major source of drinking water.