Coke versus Pepsi

I'm a person who has become quite sensitive to the ebb and flow of the world around me. Just as a Weaver at the Loom can tell what the garment's pattern is from a few strands of warp and woof, so can I identify causal links between seemingly disparate sources. Those who knew me growing up will testify that this is a hard-won skill; I am nearly completely lacking in Common Sense, and so have learned this slower but effective work-around. A side effect of becoming firmly grounded in Cause and Effect is that I can see its chains and paths well before those around me do.

Which brings us to the link between PCB's and The Choice of the Next Generation. When I grew up, Coca-Cola was the boy's drink, and Pepsi was the girl's drink. Yes, some girls drank Coke and some boys drank Pepsi. But, who did the Pepsi drinking boys hang out with? And who drank Coke with the one or two girls until 3:00 in the morning? In my mother's time, it was even more gender-specific. Now I see many boys drinking Pepsi. What has changed? Why is Coke consumed by an aging population?

Over the last few years, effects have begun to come to light initiated by our earlier Chemical Revolution. The chloroflourocarbons eating a hole in the ozone layer is one example of a recent effect from a decades-old cause. Other effects involve contamination from pesticides, solvents, and dioxins. The startling conclusion? That although our waterways, open areas, and food supplies do not contain enough of these compounds to be considered toxic, they do occur in low doses nearly anywhere that is tested.

And what has been discovered is that in low doses, pesticides, solvents and dioxins mimic an important hormone: estrogen. Estrogen occurs in lots of species of animals, in both male and females, including humans. But as the concentration of these estrogenic compounds rises in the biosphere, studies are turning up whole watersheds void of male fish and crocodiles, marshes with feminized birds and otters. These are animals that are male: they've got the Y chromosome. But the concentration of estrogen mimicking compounds is high enough in their habitat that they do not develop as males.

The otter study is the most striking: in the last twenty years, concentrations of false estrogens have risen steadily, and the male otter's penis size has reduced as steadily. Do we imagine humans to be immune? I don't. In fact, if we note the timeline for the increase in this class of pollutants, it follows pretty readily that of course Pepsi is the choice of the new generation, since it is a drink for the effeminate.

Professional