About the Phenomenon of Iatrogenic Endocrine Disruption in the Female Pig’s Reproductive Endocrine System

Abstract

Endocrine disruptors have been present in our environment since the tide of stable, man-made chemicals of the Industrial Age arose. As it has turned out, one of the medicaments used in my studies, diethylstilboestrol (DES), is also a very potent endocrine disruptor. These field trials took place a long time ago, in the 1960s, when the use of this kind of treatment was still authorized in the veterinary medical practice in order to hormonally castrate fattening female pigs instead of the traditional surgical intervention. Diethylstilboestrol (DES) was then suggested to be administered to pigs for this purpose. However, now DES must not be administered to food animals at all. The result of the hormonal treatment of pigs was then believed to be a consequence of a negative feedback reaction. Nevertheless, thorough investigations found that the induced reaction was not a negative, but on the contrary, a positive feedback reaction. In the meantime it came to light that the medicament DES itself is a most potent endocrine disruptor. Later it became clear that this positive feedback reaction could be regarded as the manifestation of the significant protective effect of the corpus luteum function, the organism’s own, natural shield aimed at preventing certain disrupting factors. This seems to be a promising domain worthy of doing research on.