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By Root 1888 0

with the male birds. Marine and land animals were displaying distinct transsexual changes in their external genitalia and internal organs. We, of course, are all aware that human male sperm count has been rapidly declining during the last few decades. There are claims being filed against these companies, and they are concerned. At least when I left, they had a working hypothesis but no specific proof of what was going on. None of this says that our trans condition is solely the result of someone’s negligence, but it may indicate that something occured that may have trigged our propensity.

Another example might be my hometown of Huntingdon Beach, California. When I graduated in 1964, the population was about 10,000 and there were 2,000 students in the high school which served the surrounding counties. I can now identify 18 post-op transsexuals that graduated between 1964 and 1975. Clearly, this rate is far beyond the generally expected incidence of transsexuality. Is this simply an example of the rule of large numbers, or could it be that Huntingdon Beach had its own aquifer, and it is severely polluted from oil drilling and is no longer used for drinking? I won’t begin to state that one led to the other. I simply do not know. I do believe, however, that by sharing these occasional tidbits, some biochemist or geneticist just might have their “idea bell” ring. What follows will be for the next generation to benefit from.

Vanessa Edwards Foster, the chair of the NTAC Board, responded:

Wonderful! For years, I lived just Vi mile from a lot of those settling ponds and 1 block from petroleum gathering tanks next to the ship channel in Corpus. My dad used to bring the family when he’d go fishing … along the ship channel! And a lot of those places around the Tule Basin, and back in the Tuloso area, and in the back side of Nue-ces Bay all had settling pools of whatever variety (besides eight oil refineries, we also had a PPG chemical plant as well). While my dad fished, we had to entertain ourselves—usually playing next to or around those pools, and on a rare occasion, stepping or falling partially in them. Other than stinking a bit, and being a little messy, I really don’t think they did anything though. It never affected my brother…. Truthfully, though, I really don’t give a crap about litigation or suing anyone over it. We’re resourceful and resilient, and don’t look for handouts or anything. If the worst health issue I ever have from living around this chemical soup all my life (San Diego, L.A., Corpus, and now chemical and smog-laden Houston) is gender dysphoria, then I came out of it all right, from a health aspect. My only request would be that general society—from political to religious to corporate—would just simply understand what happened and just allow us to live, to work and to enjoy our lives to the fullest without having to be further penalized (by systemic discrimination, ostraciza-tion, ridicule, violence and persecution) for something that may have had no bearing on any free will on our part, save for choosing not to repress what innately compels us to be ourselves.

Julie Maverick, the university professor who chairs the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition’s research committee, told me that there are valid scientific hypotheses that link transsexual behavior and physiology in many animals to endocrine-disrupting chemicals and hormones in the environment. “These include fish, frogs, and alligators,” says Maverick. “Endocrine-disrupting chemicals have also been linked to malformation and malfunction of sexual organs in these animals and there is some evidence, though not much and mostly anecdotal, to suggest a higher incidence of transsexualism in humans due to elevated exposure to various organic chemicals, particularly DES.” However, Maverick said that at present it would be rash to assert a causal relationship between these chemicals and transsexuality, cross-dressing, or any other form of anomalous gender identity or expression. “To claim any causal link is decidedly premature. Rather, it [existing