Some Qs. people asked me on science and my replies to them - Part 81

Q: How can using plastic make young girls mature early?

Krishna: Xenoestrogens are a type of xenohormone that imitates estrogen. They can be either synthetic or natural chemical compounds. Synthetic xenoestrogens are widely used industrial compounds, especially in plastics such as PCBs, BPA, and phthalates, which have estrogenic effects on a living organism even though they differ chemically from the estrogenic substances produced internally by the endocrine system of any organism. Natural xenoestrogens include phytoestrogens which are plant-derived xenoestrogens. Because the primary route of exposure to these compounds is by consumption of phytoestrogenic plants, they are sometimes called "dietary estrogens". Mycoestrogens, estrogenic substances from fungi, are another type of xenoestrogen that are also considered mycotoxins ( I worked on these toxins and this is my subject).
Xenoestrogens are clinically significant because they can mimic the effects of endogenous estrogen and thus have been implicated in precocious puberty and other disorders of the reproductive system (1, 2).

Endocrine disruptors are a category of chemicals that alter the normal function of hormones.  Normally, our endocrine system releases hormones that signal different tissues telling them what to do. When chemicals from the outside get into our bodies, they have the ability to mimic our natural hormones, blocking or binding hormone receptors. This is particularly detrimental to hormone sensitive organs like the uterus and the breast, the immune and neurological systems, as well as human development.

Xenoestrogens are a sub-category of the endocrine disruptor group that specifically have estrogen-like effects. Estrogen is a natural hormone in humans that is important for bone growth, blood clotting and reproduction in men and women.

When xenoestrogens enter the body they increase the total amount of estrogen resulting in a phenomenon called, estrogen dominance. Xenoestrogens are not biodegradable so, they are stored in our fat cells. Build up of xenoestrogens have been indicated in many conditions including:  breast, prostate and testicular cancer, obesity, infertility, endometriosis, early onset puberty, miscarriages and diabetes.

Here are some of the chemicals that are xenoestrogens:

• Skincare:
  • 4-Methylbenzylidene camphor (4-MBC) ( used in sunscreen lotions)
  • Parabens (methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben and butylparaben commonly used as a preservative)
  • Benzophenone (sunscreen lotions)

• Industrial products and Plastics:
  • Bisphenol A (monomer for polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resin; antioxidant in plasticizers)
  • Phthalates (plasticizers)
  • DEHP (plasticizer for PVC)
  • Polybrominated biphenyl ethers (PBDEs) (flame retardants used in plastics, foams, building materials, electronics, furnishings, motor vehicles).
  • Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)

• Food:
  • Erythrosine / FD&C Red No. 3
  • Phenosulfothiazine (a red dye)
  • Butylated hydroxyanisole / BHA (food preservative)

• Building supplies:
  • Pentachlorophenol (general biocide and wood preservative)
  • Polychlorinated biphenyls / PCBs (in electrical oils, lubricants, adhesives, paints)

• Insecticides:
  • Atrazine (weed killer)
  • DDT (insecticide, banned)
  • Dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (one of the breakdown products of DDT)
  • Dieldrin (insecticide)
  • Endosulfan (insecticide)
  • Heptachlor (insecticide)
  • Lindane / hexachlorocyclohexane (insecticide, used to treat lice and scabies)
  • Methoxychlor (insecticide)
  • Fenthion
  • Nonylphenol and derivatives (industrial surfactants; emulsifiers for emulsion polymerization; laboratory detergents; pesticides)
  • Other:
    • Propyl gallate

• • Chlorine and chlorine by-products
  • Ethinylestradiol (combined oral contraceptive pill)
  • Metalloestrogens (a class of inorganic xenoestrogens)
  • Alkylphenol (surfactant used in cleaning detergents

What you should do to avoid harm... 

• Reduce the use of plastics whenever possible.
• Do not microwave food in plastic containers.
• Avoid the use of plastic wrap to cover food for storing or microwaving.
• Use glass or ceramics whenever possible to store food.
• Do not leave plastic containers, especially your drinking water, in the sun.
• If a plastic water container has heated up significantly, throw it away.
• Don’t refill plastic water bottles.
• Avoid freezing water in plastic bottles to drink later.

Q: I am infertile because of auto-immune problems. How can this happen in a healthy person like me?

Krishna: Testes (or testicles) are what are known as an ‘immune-privileged’ site*,  which allows sperm cells within testicles to be protected from the body’s immune system. Most cells in the body are recognized by the immune system as ‘self,’ but mature sperm are a notable exception. Since sperm cells don’t mature until puberty, the immune system doesn’t recognize sperm as ‘self,’ but rather as a foreign agent. Immune privilege prevents molecular triggers, called antigens, expressed by sperm from inciting an autoimmune attack against them. In some people this privilege gets break down.  Some 20 percent of male infertility is thought to be a result of a breakdown of immune privilege, in which sperm cells are attacked and destroyed by the body.

* But this site provides protection to certain viruses like HIV too which hide there to avoid our body immune system. Immune privilege allows foreign invaders, including viruses, to find protection from the immune system within the testes. This is because antigens from invaders also do not seem to set off an inflammatory response, unlike elsewhere in the body. Patients had been found to have Zika and Ebola viruses in their semen months after they were originally infected even though the viruses had been cleared from elsewhere in their bodies.

Q: Can high temperature cause brain damage?

Krishna: Some years back my mother had Malaria and the temperature of her body shot up to 107 degrees F every alternate day - this continued for one year and she had malaria five times in 12 months. Malaria medicines didn’t work (resistance ‘s the culprit) . The doctors didn’t believe us until they themselves checked her temperature. She went into a highly confused state of mind. We thought she would die. I tried to cool her body down quickly using all the methods I know. Fortunately, her temperature control mechanism too worked wonderfully and she came out of it without much damage within minutes of having high temperatures.
But what I noticed after that ‘s she became very irritative, forgetful, angry, unable to understand things properly. Dementia developed and she couldn’t recognize people properly. I had to understand her condition scientifically to deal with her patiently and take care of her till her dying day.
It wasn’t easy at all.
Excessive heat denatures proteins, destabilizes phospholipids and lipoproteins, and liquefies membrane lipids, leading to cardiovascular collapse, multiorgan failure, and, ultimately, death.
So in fact one's tissues, also the brain, is destroyed by the excessive heat.

Q: Do you oppose our ancient wisdom by following science?

Krishna: No, I don't,  provided it promotes true knowledge and facts. Like this...

असतो मा सद्गमय ।
तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय ।
मृत्योर्मा अमृतं गमय ।
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥ 
                                                                    – बृहदारण्यक उपनिषद् 1.3.28

 

From untruth lead us to Truth.
From darkness lead us to Light.
From death lead us to Immortality.
Om Peace, Peace, Peace.

                                                                  -- Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

That is exactly what science does.  It takes us from falsehood and misconceptions to facts. It leads us from darkness to light. Science is fighting disease and death too. It is promoting human welfare. 

Am I not following ancient wisdom by going the way of science? :)

Q: How do you deal with ignorant people who oppose you?

Krishna: Hmmm! Not only me all my friends and colleagues find this very stressful. Very often we  face these situations....

Argument from ignorance, also known as appeal to ignorance (in which ignorance represents "a lack of contrary evidence") is a fallacy in informal logic. It asserts that a proposition is true because it has not yet been proven false or a proposition is false because it has not yet been proven true. This represents a type of false dichotomy in that it excludes a third option, which is that there may have been an insufficient investigation, and therefore there is insufficient information to prove the proposition be either true or false. Nor does it allow the admission that the choices may in fact not be two (true or false), but may be as many as four: true, false, unknown between true or false, being unknowable (among the first three) (3).

In debates, appeals to ignorance are sometimes used in an attempt to shift the burden of proof.  

Arguments that appeal to ignorance rely merely on the fact that the veracity of the proposition is not disproved to arrive at a definite conclusion. These arguments fail to appreciate that the limits of one's understanding or certainty do not change what is true. They do not inform upon reality. That is, whatever the reality is, it does not "wait" upon human logic or analysis to be formulated. Reality exists at all times, and it exists independently of what is in the mind of anyone. And the true thrust of science and rational analysis is to separate preconceived notion(s) of what reality is, and to be open at all times to the observation of nature as it behaves, so as truly to discoverreality. This fallacy can be very convincing and is considered by some to be a special case of a false dilemma or false dichotomy in that they both fail to consider alternatives. A false dilemma may take the form:

• If a proposition has not been disproved, then it cannot be considered false and must therefore be considered true.
• If a proposition has not been proven, then it cannot be considered true and must therefore be considered false.

Such arguments attempt to exploit the facts that (a) true things can never be disproved and (b) false things can never be proved. In other words, appeals to ignorance claim that the converse of these facts are also true. Therein lies the fallacy (4).

To reiterate, these arguments ignore the fact, and difficulty, that some true things may never be proved, and some false things may never be disproved with absolute certainty. The phrase "the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence" can be used as a shorthand rebuttal to the second form of the ignorance fallacy (i.e. P has never been absolutely proved and is therefore certainly false). Most often it is directed at any conclusion derived from null results in an experiment or from the non-detection of something. In other words, where one researcher may say their experiment suggests evidence of absence, another researcher might argue that the experiment failed to detect a phenomenon for other reasons.

People bring all sorts of equations, beliefs, opinions, and emotions and attack scientists for placing facts before them. They refuse to consider what scientists say and tell them to go to hell. That's why till now scientists kept quiet.  We definitely cannot stoop to a lower level. But this is going out of control now.  

Therefore, we will have to speak and speak we will. Attack or no attack. Understanding or no understanding. Consideration or no consideration. Our effort must go on.

Krishna: WOW! Glad to hear this. a parliamentary report based on my article? Will send you the references immediately.

CITATIONS:

1.  Aksglaede L, Juul A, Leffers H, Skakkebaek NE, Andersson AM (2006). "The sensitivity of the child to sex steroids: possible impact of exogenous estrogens". Hum. Reprod. Update. 12 (4): 341–9. doi:10.1093/humupd/dml018. PMID 16672247.
2.  Herman-Giddens ME, Slora EJ, Wasserman RC, Bourdony CJ, Bhapkar MV, Koch GG, Hasemeier CM (April 1997). "Secondary sexual characteristics and menses in young girls seen in office practice: a study from the Pediatric Research in Office Settings network". Pediatrics. 99 (4): 505–12. doi:10.1542/peds.99.4.505. PMID 9093289.

3.  "Argumentum ad Ignorantiam". Philosophy 103: Introduction to Logic. Lander University. 2004. Archived from the original on 30 April 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-29.

4. Duco A. Schreuder (3 December 2014). Vision and Visual Perception. Archway Publishing. p. 103. ISBN 978-1-4808-1294-9.