Vatican paper sees environmental damage from The Pill

January 05, 2009

The official Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, has drawn heavy media criticism for a January 3 article in which Pedro Jose Maria Simon Castellvi, the president of the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations, argues that the widespread use of oral contraceptive pills has damaged the environment, and is probably "a non-negligible cause of male infertility." Although proponents of contraception ridiculed the argument, American scientists have found evidence that synthetic estrogen-- apparently introduced into the ecosystem through the urine of women taking birth-control pills-- have had damaging effects on fish and wildlife in Western states.

 

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Further information:

• Contraceptive pill is polluting environment: Vatican newspaper (AFP)
• Vatican Newspaper Claims Birth Control Pill Harming Environm (Fox)
• Contracepting the Environment (National Catholic Register)