{"id":181349,"date":"2021-03-22T12:00:36","date_gmt":"2021-03-22T12:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=181349"},"modified":"2021-03-22T10:55:05","modified_gmt":"2021-03-22T10:55:05","slug":"plummeting-sperm-counts-shrinking-penises-toxic-chemicals-threaten-humanity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2021\/03\/plummeting-sperm-counts-shrinking-penises-toxic-chemicals-threaten-humanity\/","title":{"rendered":"Plummeting Sperm Counts, Shrinking Penises: Toxic Chemicals Threaten Humanity"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The chemicals to blame for our reproductive crisis are found everywhere and in everything.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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\u2018This is nothing short of a full-scale emergency for humanity.\u2019
Photograph: Mark Lennihan\/AP<\/p><\/div>\n

18 Mar 2021 – <\/em>T<\/span><\/span>he end of humankind? It may be coming sooner than we think, thanks to hormone-disrupting chemicals that are decimating fertility at an alarming rate around the globe. A new book called Countdown, by Shanna Swan, an environmental and reproductive epidemiologist at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, finds that sperm counts have dropped almost 60% since 1973<\/a>. Following the trajectory we are on, Swan\u2019s research suggests<\/a> sperm counts could reach zero by 2045. Zero. Let that sink in. That would mean no babies. No reproduction. No more humans. Forgive me for asking: why isn\u2019t the UN calling an emergency meeting on this right now?<\/span><\/p>\n

The chemicals to blame for this crisis are found in everything from plastic containers and food wrapping, to waterproof clothes and fragrances in cleaning products, to soaps and shampoos, to electronics and carpeting. Some of them, called PFAS, are known as \u201cforever chemicals\u201d, because they don\u2019t breakdown in the environment or the human body. They just accumulate and accumulate \u2013 doing more and more damage, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day. Now, it seems, humanity is reaching a breaking point.<\/p>\n

Swan\u2019s book is staggering in its findings. \u201cIn some parts of the world, the average twentysomething woman today is less fertile than her grandmother was at 35,\u201d Swan writes. In addition to that, Swan finds that, on average, a man today will have half of the sperm his grandfather had. \u201cThe current state of reproductive affairs can\u2019t continue much longer without threatening human survival,\u201d writes Swan, adding: \u201cIt\u2019s a global existential crisis.\u201d That\u2019s not hyperbole. That\u2019s just science.<\/p>\n

As if this wasn\u2019t terrifying enough, Swan\u2019s research finds that these chemicals aren\u2019t just dramatically reducing semen quality, they are also shrinking penis size and volume of the testes<\/a>. This is nothing short of a full-scale emergency for humanity.<\/p>\n

Swan\u2019s book echoes previous research<\/a>, which has found that PFAS harms sperm production, disrupts the male hormone and is correlated to a \u201creduction of semen quality, testicular volume and penile length\u201d. These chemicals are literally confusing our bodies, making them send mix messages and go haywire.<\/p>\n

Given everything we know about these chemicals, why isn\u2019t more being done? Right now, there is a paltry patchwork of inadequate legislation responding to this threat. Laws and regulations vary from country to country, region to region, and, in the United States, state to state. The European Union, for example, has restricted<\/a> several phthalates in toys and sets limits<\/a> on phthalates considered \u201creprotoxic\u201d \u2013 meaning they harm the human reproductive capacities \u2013 in food production.<\/p>\n

In the United States, a scientific study found<\/a> phthalate exposure \u201cwidespread\u201d in infants, and that the chemicals were found in the urine of babies who came into contact with baby shampoos, lotions and powders. Still, aggressive regulation is lacking, not least because of lobbying by chemical industry giants.<\/p>\n

In the state of Washington, lawmakers managed to pass the Pollution Prevention for Our Future Act<\/a>, which \u201cdirects state agencies to address classes of chemicals and moves away from a chemical by chemical approach, which has historically resulted in companies switching to equally bad or worse substitutes. The first chemical classes to be addressed in products include phthalates, PFAS, PCBs, alkyphenol ethoxylate and bisphenol compounds, and organohalogen flame retardants.\u201d The state has taken important steps to address the extent of chemical pollution, but by and large, the United States, like many other countries, is fighting a losing battle because of weak, inadequate legislation.<\/p>\n