Page 7 - IAV Digital Magazine #519

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Human Reproductive Problems Growing Due To Pollution, Scientist Says
By Larry D. Curtis, KUTV
(KUTV) — If glob- al warming does- n't alarm people enough to stop polluting, maybe this will: It's also causing human penises to shrink.
This is according to environmental and reproductive epidemiologist Dr. Shanna Swan. In her new book she ties widespread industrial chemi- cals that are in food or products human use every day, to smaller penises, erectile dysfunction and lower sperm counts.
Reproductive health is not only not a laughing matter, according to Swan and the book "Count Down," it may threaten the abili- ty of humans to reproduce. Movies like "Children of Men," that features chaos because of the sterile human
race, isn't as far- fetched as humans might wish. The book calls it a "global existential crisis."
One of the chief causes are chem- icals called phtha- lates, found in plastics that are all around us. They disrupt how hormones are produced in humans. That can cause many side effects including a lower IQ, obesity and reproductive problems, includ- ing penis size.
And that isn't just for perceptions of being manly, it also causes prob- lems with testos- terone production, decreased fertility and poor sperm counts.
In short, the book says more babies are now born with small penises and less reproductive potential. It exam- ines phthalate syndrome, observed to shrink rat geni- tals. The chemical used to make plastics more flex-
ible also harms human develop- ment.
In 2017 Swan and her team of researchers found that sperm counts in western nations dropped 50% in the last four decades.
"They came to this conclusion after examining 185 studies involving close to 45,000 healthy men," publisher Simon & Schuster writes. "It turns out our sexual
development is changing in broader ways, for both men and women and even other species, and that the mod- ern world is on pace to become an infertile one."
That narrative rings true. More than five years ago Vice.com reported that polar bears, threatened in many ways were also having penis problems becaus e of environmen-
tal chemicals. The result is a greater threat for extinc- tion, just like humans accord- ing to Swan's book. Otters are suffering a similar problem.
The book, fully titled: "Count Down: How Our Modern World Is Threatening Sperm Counts, Altering Male and Female Reproductive Development, and Imperiling the Future of the Human Race," says that these chemicals are actually part of us from birth.
"Babies are now entering the world already contami- nated with chemi- cals because of the substances they absorb in the womb," it states. It also says lifestyle choices such as smoking and not exercis- ing are also mak- ing problems worse.
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