A small throught/rant about Reproduction and the "Green" movement

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I’ll be the first to admit that I know next to nothing about NFP except that it requires some effort, planning and “self awareness” of what is going on with your body.

The following just sort of occurred to me this morning…
Society - and many individuals in it - want to be more “natural”, “greener”, “environmentally friendly”. They want to eat less “processed food”, meat with no “growth hormones”, veggies not sprayed with pesticides, etc…
They want to be physically fit and will go to the gym, meet with dietary professionals, measure and control their calories, fats and carb numbers - and will see the doctor regularly to make sure that their cholesterol is within proper limits and if it is not they will do whatever they need to in order to get it corrected.

People will do all of this in order to remain healthy…but then seemingly think nothing about NOT being “green” and “environmentally friendly” by taking chemical contraceptives. They squawk about NFP being “too hard” and requiring too much effort. They gladly control their diet but can’t be bothered to take their temperature daily or mark a calender for the purpose of better understanding their own bodies and cycles???

Come - on…:rolleyes:…Seems pretty inconsistent to me…

OK…Like I said, I know little about the NFP methods, and the above is a rather gross oversimplification, and may not be a fair representation of all individuals within the spectrum of society…but I had the thought and figured it might be worth tossing out for comment, critique etc…

So have at it…

Peace
James
 
You’re absolutely right… and you don’t even know the half of it.

Those chemicals, the synthetic hormones that are in birth control pills, don’t remain in the body. If they did, it wouldn’t be necessary for a woman to keep taking the pill month after month. Like any other foreign substance, the body eliminates them. They are excreted in the urine - which goes into the septic system, or sewer, depending on where the woman lives… from which they get into the water supply.

This is true of all the drugs we take, all the medications - all those chemicals are in our lakes, rivers and oceans. But the birth control hormones are especially problematic… because the basic chemicals of life are similar among the various species, those hormones have the same effect on fish that they do on people… they mess with the reproductive system.

Research has shown that fish living downstream from wastewater treatment facilities have seriously messed-up reproductive systems, from all those hormones in the water. This makes it difficult for them to reproduce. I wish I could cite the URL of the place where I read about this but I don’t have time to search for it now. Needless to say our news media does not report on this, nor do the environmental groups draw attention to it.

Not to mention the fact that we are all drinking these hormones, in at least trace amounts, all the time, since the hormones are in the water. And it will get worse over time as more of these chemicals enter the environment.

I understand that it is quite difficult to remove these chemicals from water. Now think about the fact that millions of women all over the world take these pills. What does this mean for the long term? It’s not a happy thought…
 
louisak said:
Research has shown that fish living downstream from wastewater treatment facilities have seriously messed-up reproductive systems, from all those hormones in the water. This makes it difficult for them to reproduce. I wish I could cite the URL of the place where I read about this but I don’t have time to search for it now.
Click to expand...
popsci.com/science/article/2009-11/what-feminizing-so-many-male-fish-our-rivers

Unsurprisingly, I don’t recall hearing any type of public outcry about the issue from environmentalists. 🤷
 
dean24us said:
popsci.com/science/article/2009-11/what-feminizing-so-many-male-fish-our-rivers

Unsurprisingly, I don’t recall hearing any type of public outcry about the issue from environmentalists. 🤷
Click to expand...
Interesting article…But I would say that it is not true that there has been no “Public outcry” on the issue, only that it has been directed at a different potential cause…
The article points out that there is no clear evidence as to precisely what is the cause, but points to agricultural runoff as well as waste treatment plants as being potential contributors.

So the environmentalists have been pointing to “hormones in the animal feed”…So - there is your “public outcry”…

Peace
James
 
JRKH said:
I’ll be the first to admit that I know next to nothing about NFP except that it requires some effort, planning and “self awareness” of what is going on with your body.

The following just sort of occurred to me this morning…
Society - and many individuals in it - want to be more “natural”, “greener”, “environmentally friendly”. They want to eat less “processed food”, meat with no “growth hormones”, veggies not sprayed with pesticides, etc…
They want to be physically fit and will go to the gym, meet with dietary professionals, measure and control their calories, fats and carb numbers - and will see the doctor regularly to make sure that their cholesterol is within proper limits and if it is not they will do whatever they need to in order to get it corrected.

People will do all of this in order to remain healthy…but then seemingly think nothing about NOT being “green” and “environmentally friendly” by taking chemical contraceptives. They squawk about NFP being “too hard” and requiring too much effort. They gladly control their diet but can’t be bothered to take their temperature daily or mark a calender for the purpose of better understanding their own bodies and cycles???

Come - on…:rolleyes:…Seems pretty inconsistent to me…

OK…Like I said, I know little about the NFP methods, and the above is a rather gross oversimplification, and may not be a fair representation of all individuals within the spectrum of society…but I had the thought and figured it might be worth tossing out for comment, critique etc…

So have at it…

Peace
James
Click to expand...
👍
 
I’m going to take medical advice from my doctor. He knows me, my body, and my medical history. The idea that these women would listen to their doctors on diet, exercise, medicine, etc but not on birth control because of a small group of activists is absurd.
 
BEL,

I know a number of doctors and most of them think it is absurd to spend extra money on ‘certified organic’ produce too, if the motivation is some sort of thinking that one’s health will benefit from it compared to standard supermarket fare. But people do it anyways.

You have to admit it, there is a glaring inconsistency when somebody is so highly concerned about ‘bovine growth hormone’ that they buy a stake in a cow (I swear I’m not making this up!) to get milk that they know first hand is from untreated cows, but are prefectly willing to put full strength, undiluted synthetic hormones in their own bodies via the pill! You may not be one of these people, so don’t take it as a personal attack, please.
 
BlueEyedLady said:
I’m going to take medical advice from my doctor. He knows me, my body, and my medical history.
Click to expand...
Fair enough…

This is a little “off track” but I wonder…If you asked you doctor about NFP information…Would he a) know what you were talking about and b) have information and c) recommend it over other methods…Just curiosity on my part.
The idea that these women would listen to their doctors on diet, exercise, medicine, etc but not on birth control because of a small group of activists is absurd.
Click to expand...
I’m a little confused here…What small group of activists are you referring to? The “greens”

Peace
James
 
JRKH said:
Fair enough…

This is a little “off track” but I wonder…If you asked you doctor about NFP information…Would he a) know what you were talking about and b) have information and c) recommend it over other methods…Just curiosity on my part.

I’m a little confused here…What small group of activists are you referring to? The “greens”

Peace
James
Click to expand...
I know that he would know what it is, and there was a pamphlet on it in his office. As for recommending it over something else, I don’t know. I’m in a position medically where I do need birth control pills for non contraceptive reasons. And I’m in a position personally where even if I didn’t I would still use them for contraception. I don’t know what he would say to someone else.

But that aside health is the “in” thing right now. People pay a lot of money for doctors and nutritionists to tell them what to do to get and stay healthy, and to monitor them, like you pointed out from the start. If that same doctor recommends birth control it would be foolish to say that you trust him on everything but that because of the relatively small number of anti birth control activists who insist that it’s unhealthy or dangerous.

Its pretty much the same as people who follow their doctor’s dietary advice even though vegan activists have numbers, statistics, studies, anecdotal evidence, and even doctors who will back them up when they say animal products are deadly (and insanely bad for the environment). At the end of the day that opinion is still the minority amongst medical professionals, so most people are rightfully wary of it (I say this as a vegan). Same issue as the “birth control is dangerous” crowd.
 
I am involved in some non-Catholic message boards (including a breastfeeding forum and a cloth diapering forum) and a LOT of women who are environmentally conscious choose not to take hormonal birth control for the reasons you’ve mentioned. Yes, some people are hypocrites, but there really are a lot of people out there who practice what they preach when it comes to a hormone-free lifestyle! 👍
 
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