What are the concentrations of female hormones (estrogens), and male hormones (androgens)?
In August 2006, and again in February 2007, the PIRVic team collected discharge from 45 Victorian waste water treatment plants across the length and breadth of Victoria. Once the samples had been returned to DPI’s Queenscliff laboratories the team then measured the total estrogenic and androgenic activity of the effluents using a hybrid yeast bioassay. Essentially, the yeast assay measures the inhibition of β-galactosidase following competition between test chemical (or chemicals in a mixture, ie effluent) and control, ie β-estradiol, when measuring estrogenic activity. Using the same effluent samples, the team also measured estradiol, estrone, testosterone and androstenedione concentrations using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technology. The results suggest that the estrogenic activity of Victorian treatment plants is higher than that observed elsewhere in Australia. Although there is quite a lot of variation between plants, summer concentrations were lower than those obse
