One Sweet Mess

Incinerating water might sound like a bizarre thing to do, but it is a fair bet that Cara Environmental Technology wishes it had done a bit more of it. Instead, the respected Irish firm is part of a loopy trail that links the runoff from the production of hormone-replacement pills for postmenopausal women to the likes of German pig farmer Bernhard Finke, who spent much of last week worrying whether his pigs would ever get to market.

The unlikely chemical bond between hot flashes and slipping schedules at Europe's slaughterhouses is the synthetic hormone medroxyprogesterone acetate . MPA, as...