Northern Ireland’s rivers are being checked for “gender bending” chemicals that could threaten the future of fish populations. Environment Minister Edwin Poots has revealed that 85 river sites are being monitored for di-n-butylphthalate, a chemical used to make hard plastics soft and which is thought to have an anti-androgenic effect – inhibiting male sex hormones.
Officials are also checking a small number of sites for female hormones, which have been linked in several English rivers to “gender bending” in fish populations.
Although there are no controls on the use of estrogens and anti-androgens, 15 of the largest sewage works in Northern Ireland have been fitted with treatment systems that can partly remove the substances. However, no system can completely remove them.
Mr Poots was responding to a written Assembly question by Danny Kinahan, who asked what steps were being taken to prevent estrogens and anti-androgens from being allowed into rivers, particularly the Six Mile Water basin. He commented, “In April 2009, the Northern Ireland Environment Agency started monitoring rivers for di-n-butylphthalate, a substance that is believed to have an anti-androgenic effect, as part of its Water Framework Directive surveillance monitoring programme across 85 sites. This includes one on the Green Burn at Millvale and part of the Six Mile Water River Basin. Data on this will be available shortly.”
