 Xenoestrogens have been introduced into the environment by industrial, agricultural and chemical companies and consumers only in the last 70 years or so, but archiestrogens have been a ubiquitous part of the environment even before the existence of the human race given that some plants (like the cereals and the legumes) are using estrogenic substances possibly as part of their natural defence against herbivore animals by controlling their fertility.The potential ecological and human health impact of xenoestrogens is of growing concern.The word xenoestrogen is derived from the Greek words ξένο (xeno, meaning foreign), οἶστρος (estrus, meaning sexual desire) and γόνο (gene, meaning "to generate") and literally means "foreign estrogen".