Tags
Count Down by Shanna H. Swan with Stacey Colino (USA 2020), Decline in Human Sperm Counts, Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs), Sexual & Reproductive Hormonal Imbalances
Photo Credit: Simon & Schuster, New York, USA
It’s not only that sperm counts have plummeted by 50 percent in the last forty years; it’s also that this alarming rate of decline could mean the human race will be unable to reproduce itself if the trend continues…. In animals there have been changes in mating behavior, with more reports of male turtles humping other male turtles, and female fish and frogs becoming masculinized after being exposed to certain chemicals.
How and why could this be happening? The answer is complicated. Though these interspecies anomalies may appear to be distinct and isolated incidents, the fact is that they all share several underlying causes. In particular, the ubiquity of insidiously harmful chemicals in the modern world is threatening the reproductive development and functionality of both humans and other species. The worst offenders: chemicals that interfere with our body’s natural hormones. These endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are playing havoc with the building blocks of sexual and reproductive development. They’re everywhere in our modern world—and they’re inside our bodies, which is problematic on many levels.
Excerpt from Count Down: How Our Modern World Is Threatening Sperm Counts, Altering Male and Female Reproductive Development, and Imperiling the Future of the Human Race by Shanna H. Swan, PhD with Stacey Colino, Simon & Schuster, New York, USA, 2020 (Chapter One: Reproductive Shock, pp. 7 & 9).
Shanna H. Swan, PhD, is an award-winning scientist based at Mt. Sinai Medical Center, New York, and one of the world’s leading environmental and reproductive epidemiologists.
Stacey Colino is an award-winning writer specializing in health and environmental issues. Her work has appeared in such magazines as Newsweek, Time, Parade, National Geographic, and Good Housekeeping.
Three Worlds One Vision 
This makes me relieved my time is done
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Derrick, it’s yet another crisis for our children and grandchildren to deal with 😦
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It is indeed,
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Alarming this is Rosa.
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It sure is, Narayan. I didn’t realize how critical the situation has become until reading Dr. Swan’s book.
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This is the problem that would not go away! In the 1970s, the water of the Thames contained such a concentration of “The Pill” that the vast majority of fish were female or turning to female!
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Thanks for that reminder, John! Now, it’s our species that is facing “gender fluidity,” to use Dr. Swan’s description.
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A true sign that humans have no concept of what they are doing. Each item that is approved safe for consumption or use tends to eventually not be so. Progress? Perhaps Not. All the warnings from apocalyptic books from years past seem to be coming to pass.
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Allan, just like current advances in the uses of AI, we tend to focus more on the benefits of these chemicals and downplay the risks. Human progress has come at a great cost.
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First, individuals are bombarded with chemicals that alter their hormones and sexuality; then they are ostracized for being deviant. All of this is madness! Is there any way back?
Thank you, Rosaliene, for bringing this alarming book to our attention.
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I agree, Cheryl, it’s madness! The authors dedicate a chapter to addressing “Gender Fluidity: Beyond Male and Female.” They acknowledge that “Scientific questions about what makes someone male, female, or non-binary, or straight, gay, bisexual, or asexual, are complex, fraught, and fascinating–and not easy to answer” (p.55).
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Thank you for the heads up about this book, Rosaliene. There are many troubling trends in our world right now, which point to the end of the human race if we stay on this path.
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You’re welcome, Susan. We sure are heading for extinction if we remain on this path.
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Scary reading this, Rosaliene, we humans just can’t stop ourselves! 🙋♂️
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Without a doubt, Ashley, it’s scary. Our drive for capital accumulation ignores all limitations.
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Great topic covering many of today’s concerns not only on sexuality, but I hope also on obesity. Will read.
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Thanks very much, Pablo. The book was an eye-opener for me.
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As if there wasn’t already enough to worry about. What a mess humankind has made.
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Neil, I had the same response after reading Count Down. We act like gods.
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PFAS levels in the water are big news. Wow, 50% reduction for men. Looks like plastics are a big deal as in The Graduate movie…
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Plastics are a big deal, Rebecca. The book had my head spinning with the diverse class of chemicals and their hard-to-pronounce names.
“Phthalates are found in plastic and vinyl, floor and wall coverings, medical tubing and medical devices, and toys, as well as in a vast array of personal-care products (including nail polishes, perfumes, hair sprays, soaps, shampoos, and others.) Phthalates are widely distributed throughout the body and can be measured in urine, blood, and breast milk. The most concerning phthalates are those that can decrease the production of male hormones such as testosterone that the male needs to become fully masculinized, changes that can make him more likely to be infertile or to simply have a lower sperm count (p. 115).”
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Yes, I am very careful about Phthalates, yet even small amounts disrupt hormones. They cause girls to get their periods early too.
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Thanks for the mentioning the early periods. That alone creates new challenges for teenage girls and their parents.
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They’re not teenagers yet! Often only 8-9 years old. Women before they can be girls…
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Really!? I had no idea that this was happening at such an early age. Thanks for bringing this to my attention, Rebecca.
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Average age for menarche in the US is 12. See this article: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-are-girls-getting-their-periods-so-young/
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Rebecca, thanks for sharing the link to the article. Yet another challenge for girls and their parents.
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Thanks so much for sharing this Rosaliene. As alarming as these findings are, it really comes as no surprise. Our entire reproductory makeup is all screwed up. My goodness, how sad and tragic. 😥
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You’re welcome, Kym. The female reproductive system is also under threat with an increase in miscarriages. “From 1990 to 2011, the risk of miscarriage increased by 1 percent per year among pregnant women in the United States, according to a 2018 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (p. 48).”
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WOW, I had no idea Rosaliene, but somehow, this does not surprise me. Hearing you validate such a statistic is what’s so alarming to me. This is so scary! 😥
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This has been a big problem now for years, and it takes a lot of people who speak up about it for any changes to be made, for those making millions and billions of dollars from those very things wouldn’t change a thing unless public opinion changes public spending so much that those companies are forced to. Bravo for sharing this info!
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Thanks very much, Tamara. I’m so focused on our climate and ecological crises that I’ve ignored this growing threat.
To address this crisis, the authors offer a number of solutions in their concluding chapter (pp. 211-215):
> Become more mindful about the items we choose to use or bring into our homes or workplaces;
> Concentrate on cleaning up the messes we’ve made in various ecosystems;
> Share information about the dangers of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs); and
> Increase awareness of the importance of reproductive health.
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Yes, these are all important steps to consider. I like how the milk and beef industries changed their practices somewhat to help change this issue too. The growth hormones they were feeding the cattle were affecting puberty arriving years earlier in kids. There’s so much more work needed.
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I couldn’t agree more, Tamara.
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So chemicals are just dangerous because if they can cause climate change, badly affect the environment and the hormones as well, they probably can affect our brain too, no wonder there’s lot of craziness of late. It’s scary!
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It is scary, Zet Ar, and they do affect our brain. Dr. Swan’s research and that of others has shown that higher exposure to some hormone-influencing chemicals can decrease male-female differences in acquiring spatial ability and language skills (pp. 112-113).
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Not good news and not entirely new, but desperately important. Thanks for posting about it, Rosaliene.
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You’re welcome, Dr. Stein. As I’ve mentioned in my comment to Tamara, I’ve been late in catching up on this issue.
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Scary facts and it’s going to get worse.
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I agree on both counts, Bridget. We have lost our way.
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Sobering. Thank you for raising awareness on how chemicals impact our bodies. 😦
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You’re welcome, Tracy. As I’m learning from Rebecca, it’s more sobering than I thought.
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Ugh. I know that must be a difficult read.
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Wow.
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Thanks for dropping by, Mitch 🙂
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Rosaliene so scary and tragic..thanks for sharing this idea Anita
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You’re welcome, Anita 🙂
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Thank you for the truth and for specifying Phthalates in the comments. Sounds like the more natural and fewer products we use, the better. I hope we can create more demand for products without harmful chemicals and more companies will respond with safer ingredients.
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So do I, JoAnna. It won’t be easy: These harmful chemicals are everywhere.
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Yikes!
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I had a similar reaction, Betsy!
Earlier today, I learned that these toxic ‘forever’ chemicals are also present in feminine period products. Here’s the link to the Newsweek article: https://www.newsweek.com/toxic-forever-chemicals-found-period-products-pfas-1819119
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Oh man, I’m afraid to look!
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