Apopka Community Partnership
"As some of these children approached puberty, researchers noted abnormal sexual development in the males, paralleling one of the most striking effects recorded in wildlife literature. Like the alligators in Lake Apopka, these boys have significantly shorter penises than the unexposed boys of the same age."
p. 189, Our Stolen Future
"Indeed, Apopka's dire condition might have gone undiscovered if wildlife officials hadn't become interested in supplying wild alligator eggs to for commercial alligator ranches."
p. 153
". . . they found most of the eggs in Apopka nests were not hatching."
"Lake Apopka vividly illustrates how appearances can be totally at odds with reality. The lake appears healthy, relatively unspoiled place, and the surrounding swamps seem to be rich in wildlife including turtles and alligators."
"But even years later the poisons from the accident (1980) have not truly disappeared. Though absent from the water, they are still circulating in Apopka's food web and causing havoc. Only with closer scrutiny does the profound disruption of its wildlife become evident."
p.153.
Lake Apopka
"The 12,500 hectare lake, the fourth largest freshwater body in the state, is located north of the Everglades, not far from Orlando . . . "
"We knew it was contamination' he says, ' but we didn't realize it was a hormone effect."
p.150.
"After the issue first broke into the news in early 1994 a parade of journalists began trooping down to Lake Apopka to record the plight of its alligators and photograph their tiny members.
"But regardless of where they live on the lake, the Apopka males as a whole have smaller penises than the males hatched on a relatively clean lake."
p.151.
"a study of children in Taiwan born to women "who in 1979 consumed cooking oil accidentally contaminated with high levels of PCBs and furans."
