Coffee Beans, Laundry Soap, and Fish Sexuality: What Comes Around, Goes Around

March 31, 2003

The public is invited to the next free talk in the “Superior Science for You!” speaker series, hosted by the University of Minnesota Sea Grant Program.

On April 9 at 7 p.m. in Duluth at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Mid-Continent Ecology Division, Gitchee Gumee Conference Facility (6201 Congdon Blvd.), Deborah Swackhamer, professor with the University of Minnesota Twin Cities School of Public Health, will present, “Coffee Beans, Laundry Soap, and Fish Sexuality: What Comes Around, Goes Around.”

The things we eat, drink, and wash with can mess up a fish’s sex life. As they work through our lives and down our drains, some common chemical compounds can scramble the hormonal signals that rule fish development and reproduction. Dr. Swackhamer, an expert on these endocrine disrupters, will discuss her research on these chemicals and their impact on fish in the Duluth-Superior Harbor.

A reception will follow the talk. If you can’t attend the talk in person, try listening through your computer. Live audio will be broadcast from the EPA Lab through Minnesota Sea Grant’s Web site.

Computer listeners can view the speaker’s slides and even e-mail the speaker questions and she will answer them at the end of the talk. A video of the presentation will be posted to this site the next day.

This Lake Superior-related speaker series was made possible by a grant funded under the Coastal Zone Management Act by NOAA’s Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management in conjunction with Minnesota’s Lake Superior Coastal Program.