Oklahoma Senate Bill 1812, filed in January 2024, would require wastewater treatment for the urinary metabolites of nine chemicals: benzophenone, bisphenol A (BPA), estrone, ethinyl estradiol, musk ketones, pregnanediol, testosterone, tonalide, and mifepristone. Suggests monitoring requirements.
Some of these are endocrine disrupting chemicals associated with plastics, cosmetics, and food additives. Most are naturally produced steroid hormones. For example, ethinyl estradiol is a common hormonal contraceptive, and mifepristone is a safe and effective abortion pill.
Bill 1812 is an attempt to hijack environmental concerns about endocrine-disrupting chemicals and control Oklahomans' health choices, extending beyond abortion to contraceptives, gender-affirming medications, and endogenous hormones. It extends to. Environmental justice advocates must think critically about regressive social policies disguised as environmentalism.
Endocrine disrupting chemicals have been associated with a wide range of adverse health effects in many models, including humans, and indeed pose a formidable threat to environmental health. Although industrial chemicals, pesticides, and veterinary drugs likely account for most of the environmental endocrine disruptor pollution, common messages focus on contraception. The U.S. government and states have taken several steps to prevent exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals, primarily by regulating industrial activities and consumer products.
These programs target the largest sources of information. Oklahoma has not adopted industrial or consumer product protection regulations for any of the chemicals identified in Bill 1812, and certainly not for their urinary metabolites. Searching for these metabolites does not prevent human exposure or identify the source of infection. But monitoring wastewater for contraception, hormone therapy, and abortion pills helps monitor and criminalize health behaviors.
Misinformation about the “feminizing” effects of endocrine disruptors on amphibians, reptiles, and fish has been used as a weapon against queer and trans people and those who use contraception. Mifepristone has been targeted as states further restrict access to abortion. States are attempting to make the sale and use of these drugs illegal. Hormones used in gender-affirming medicine are also subject to stricter regulation. This law is not always easy to identify. At first glance, Bill 1812 appears to be a victory for environmentalists. It suggests wastewater monitoring and mentions the harmful plasticizer BPA. However, testing the metabolites of these pollutants does not address the main sources of contamination. In fact, the book's author, Republican state Sen. Nathan Dahm, insists there is no environmentalist motive and has written at least seven bills to restrict access to abortion and “to increase gender-destructive practices.” We are proposing a bill to put an end to this.
Misinformation about the “feminizing” effects of endocrine disruptors on amphibians, reptiles, and fish has been used as a weapon against queer and trans people and those who use contraception.
Wastewater monitoring is often a step toward standards and limits. Once enacted, dischargers, including wastewater treatment facilities, could be subject to penalties for exceedances. If the risk is deemed to be large enough, these limits are set at the lowest detection level, effectively making the discharge illegal. Responsibility can be deferred to upstream sources. Environmentalists often call for upstream regulation of industrial polluters. If such restrictions were placed on the chemicals listed in Bill 1812, would municipal customers be held liable for their metabolites? Perhaps this regulation is not so personally targeted? Probably not. But while Congress works to ban reproductive choice, testing wastewater systems for mifepristone, gender-affirming drugs, and contraceptive metabolites threatens to use environmental oversight for civilian oversight. This is an obvious attempt.
