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Rethinking Our Origins
Rethinking Our Origins
by Karen Kerin
As the tension between creation and evolution theory feeds the debate concerning who we are and how we got this way, startling evidence is accumulating that indicates a whole new examination is needed. Genetic science teaches us pretty conclusively that the XX and XY only can produce the same patterns and hence either XX or XY offspring. But that isn’t true, because there are a number of other configurations possible, such as the XXY and at least several others. So if XX is always female and XY is always male, what in the world are these others and how did they come into being? Science hasn’t provided any firm answers to that question yet.
The next big question is perhaps much more on point for the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Inter-sex (GLBTI) community. (Inter-sex, for those not familiar with the term, is the group of folks who, at birth, have undefined genitalia. The Intersex Society of North America has a very good website at www.ISNA.org). What explains the GLBTI community, if it isn’t genetics? That question may be on the verge of an answer and the answer comports with the Biblical words of Genesis, “we are all created in the image and likeness of God”. Is this possible? To answer, we must back up just a decade and review some history.
In the early 1990’s diverse events occurred. A lake in central Florida had been allegedly cleaned up after a chemical spill. The water was spectacularly clean and free of pollution, yet the alligators and turtles were all inter-sexed. In one of the lowland countries of Europe, a follow-on study of the seruli cells (the ones that make sperm) in the testes of men revealed a 50% decline in less than 50 years. In England, where the effluent of wastewater plants is discharged into lowland rivers where it is reused for potable water down stream, some irregularities led to an interesting experiment. Adult male trout were caged near the outlet of the sewage treatment plants and in three weeks they had become inter-sexed. In the U.S., a researcher was using new lab containers and getting odd results. This led her to test a new empty container and discover it tested positive for the presence of estrogen. The story of all these events is detailed in a book first published in 1996. (Theo Colborn, et al, Our Stolen Future, Penguin Books, USA, NY) The substances, which were responsible for indicating positive for estrogen, were termed “endocrine disrupters” or “endocrine mimics”. Note that the forward to this book was written by then Vice President Al Gore.
By 1999, the National Institutes of Science had written a significant authoritative text on the subject and renamed the families of substances “hormonally active agents” (HAA’s). (National Institutes of Science, Hormonally Active Agents, National Institutes of Science, Washington, DC) The text listed a large number of identified chemicals by families, which had proven to be of the disrupter or mimic type. And yes, they are very active. Interestingly, to show just how non-partisan this matter really is, the new head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gave them significant mention in press conferences dealing with the arsenic in drinking water standards. Governor Christie Todd Whitman made it clear that she understood the terrible threat these substances pose. Do note that the media has not picked up on this, much less informed America about it.
Now, history lesson completed, we move on to the “who, what, when, where and how” these substances relate to the GLBTI community. But to do that, we must first understand, unambiguously, the simple truth that for the GLBT portion of the community, there is very little evidence of any physical manifestations to account for why we are who we are. The subject has been in the province of the voodoo doctors of medicine, the psychiatrists and their handmaidens, the sociologists and psychologists. Yes, they have claimed it is all in the head or brain chemistry, to be more specific. Okay, there are tens of thousands of endocrines or hormones as they are popularly understood. These are the chemical messengers of the body. We’re fortunate to have two messenger systems and both are bi-directional. The nervous system sends messages to and from the brain and so does the endocrine system. The nervous system largely deals with input to the brain from the more voluntary parts of the body, skin and muscle. The brain in turn sends messages via the nervous system to the muscles to tighten or relax so that motion becomes a rather seamless action of the body.
The endocrine system is very different, yet the same. It is the messenger between the brain and the organs. You never have any sensation from the pancreas, the kidneys, the liver or any of the other internal organs. Yet, they release all sorts of endocrines at the needed doses at the time they are required. How do they know? Endocrines are dispatched to them to tell them there is not enough or too little of something and the organ responds accordingly. Does one organ talk to another by this system? Possibly, but no one has ever really gone out on a limb and affirmatively stated that to be the case. On the other hand, brain chemistry is a fast growing field and there have been many regular discoveries of new brain chemicals. So, we certainly know that the brain is involved in some, if not all, of the chemical messaging.
Now a few missing facts and we shall tie all this up with a rainbow or a shroud as you the reader may choose to view it. Some, or possibly all, of these HAA’s can cross the placental barrier, that wall of the womb which isolates the growing fetus from the mother’s biochemistry. But for the placental barrier, every birth would be female oriented because the mother’s estrogen would bathe the fetus in feminizing hormones. That may be the explanation for the different brain chemistry for GLBT folks. Note that all HAA’s are not estrogenic, and some are not understood at all at this early juncture. The chromosomes give a person the physical body, but the brain is dependent on the HAA’s present at certain times in vivo. For the inter-sexed folks, it may be that the disrupters or mimics (HAA’s) can lead to the condition as a result of fetal exposure to certain HAA’s or combinations of HAA’s.
There you have it. For the first time, science has an explanation that appears to account for all of God’s children being created in His image and likeness.
In conclusion, do not fail to note the untoward consequences of this discovery. Few members of the GLBTI community procreate. The straight community would live in terror of losing the ability to procreate if they knew about this late breaking science. That explains why the EPA is concerned about HAA’s. Think about it. If people know about this, they would recognize that a sterile planet is the likely outcome of failing to rein in the prevalence of the HAA’s in our environment. Even if a sterile planet doesn’t happen as the result of inter-sexing, there is still a huge possibility that straight folks will be on the endangered species list along with virtually every other living organism. Yes, we may well be the precursor of events not yet fully identified, owing only to the fact that we bio-accumulate these HAA’s because humans are at the top of the food chain, just like the turtles and alligators in the central Florida lake.
I am 57 years old, married, and live in South Royalton. I am a dual professional having degreed in both engineering and law. I am an ardent environmentalist who resents the iconoclastic approaches of government agencies to dealing with our natural environment. I am also a transsexual.