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endocrine disruptors, fertility, over-population, phthalates, plastics, Shanna Swan, The Sun Magazine
Over the past 50 years, sperm counts around the world have declined by over 50%. Environmental and reproductive epidemiologist, Shanna Swan, studies the issue and points to endocrine-disrupting chemicals that she believes play a huge role in fertility problems such as low sperm counts, miscarriages, early onset of menopause, and perhaps even gender issues that seem so much more prevalent than they’ve ever been.
Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that, once absorbed into the body, confuse natural hormones and reproductive systems. The most common endocrine disruptors are phthalates, which the Centers for Disease Control says “are in hundreds of products, such as vinyl flooring, lubricating oils, and personal-care products (soaps, shampoos, hair sprays).” Swan, coauthor of Count Down: How Our Modern World is Threatening Sperm Counts, Altering Male and Female Reproductive Development, and Imperiling the Future of the Human Race also studies the effects of bisphenol A (BPA), medications and pesticides. I was introduced to Swan and her research in an interview that appeared in The Sun Magazine in September 2022.
The changes that Swan has observed and documented also indicate that baby boys are more likely to have undescended testicles and small penises if their mothers were exposed to high levels of phthalates during pregnancy and that in utero phthalate exposure affects the brains of young boys and changes their play behavior.”
Frankly, I think we should be rejoicing over declining human fertility. I’m beyond believing that the human race deserves this planet. Peering into my glass ball, I see the livable space on earth rapidly declining as oceans rise, while human populations continue to expand and to be pushed into denser communities, a phenomenon which escalate tensions and upends mental health while reducing land available for food production.
More alarming to me than human fertility is the fact that the effects of man-caused endocrine disruptors are not restricted to humanity, but also extend into animal populations that are inadvertently exposed to phthalates through environmental pollution. Not only do our wildlife suffer the affects of climate change, but their fertility is being disrupted by what we urinate and dispose of during our everyday lives.
Rangewriter 
So, there is this National Biomonitoring Program.
What does it really achieve?
We have so much knowledge,
and still do the most stupid things.
Yes, the increase in population is frightening.
Still, shouldn’t it be our aim to see to it, that future fewer pregnancies are as healthy as possible!
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You make a perfect point that if a couple is going to invest 9 months in bringing a life to earth, it should at least be a healthy life.
But I do wish more people would opt to have fewer or no children. We’ve know since the 70s and earlier, that our planet could not sustain human population at the rate it was growing. Not enough people have taken that warning seriously. I get especially irate at the rich and famous who have to pop kids out every time they make a new marriage pairing, which may happen 4 or 5 times during their lives. In the best of all things, fertility could be self-managed, but regulated so that no more than one baby is born per one person. But since that’s not the case, I rather relish the fact that human fertility may be at risk. Trouble is, that only the rich will procreate if this trend continues.
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In my experience itis the poor who have more children! 🙂
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Indeed. And that, too, is a many-faceted issue. It harkens back to times of peasantry and early agriculture when it took a huge family to harvest and run the land. And now, in this country, at least, birth control is expensive and not easy for poor people w/o good transportation to obtain.
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Linda, may be those tight jeans guys wear. ;>) Keith
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Ya, well, I reckon those don’t help either. But tight jeans don’t interfere with animal populations…except perhaps in the manufacturing, washing, and disposal.
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Linda, an old client who did research in the Research Triangle Park area did a study on depleted sperm count on a grouping of men in Texas. The conclusion is those who worked outdoors in the heat in workpants which allowed poor circulation had lesser counts of sperm. I may be remembering the details poorly as it was thirty years ago when I was told the story. Keith
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I remember reading something about that too, especially the tight pants thing, and also bicycle saddles can supposedly cause problems which has led to the redesign of said saddles. This new research on endocrine disruptors has been going on for about 25 years. It includes what happens in the animal kingdom and I don’t thing those critters are torturing themselves with whitie tighties. I’m sure there are a host of issues that play into infertility.
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Your points make sense. I think there are many things in our environment, in the animals we eat and the drugs we take that cause us problems.
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Yes, I fear that combined and gaining in numbers we represent a plague upon the earth.
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How do you define stewardship, good stewardship? Certainly not by most of our actions over the millenia.
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Couldn’t agree more.
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Just a thought: Are these causes or links to fertility changes intentional?
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Hmm. Karen. Are you suggesting a conspiracy? A plot by China, perhaps? I honestly believe that most of the inventions man creates are birthed in noble ideas. But unintended consequences turn good ideas into disasters down the road. Henry Ford surely never envisioned the gridlock of Los Angeles, nor the smog of Denver, or the utter rape of the planet in continuing efforts to fuel the automobile industry. And I don’t think the inventors and tweakers of plastics ever envisioned floating islands of plastic in the ocean or fish ingesting micro-plastics, or fertility being fouled by phthalates.
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Love your innocent reply to the Queen of Conspiracy Theories!! Ha! Ha!
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I honestly didn’t know there were any conspiracy theorists in my circle of friends/acquaintances. I guess you learn something everyday. Anything is possible. Some things are just not particularly probable. 😊
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But we know now all too well, what sort of problems we have created with our well intentioned creations. So is it not about time to drastically do something about these problems?
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I agree. We’re so brilliant in dreaming up new things, but fixing the problems that they create takes the backseat…maybe the trailer.
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Another reason for me – selfishly – to be glad I’m not young any more
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Not young any more? I am ancient! Definitely past my ‘use by’ age. 🙂
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You are a reminder to us, that everything is relative.
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Still, I think I should be prepared that I definitely are not going to live much longer.
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It must be a bit scary to be watching the last of the grains head for the bottom of the sandglass…😯 But we all are, really. Some folks thing they have a lot more grains of sand to watch, but one never knows….the ultimate mystery of life.
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Why should it be scary? It’s not scary at all! 🙂
Anyhow, this is how I feel right now. I find, it is not important at all, that I should go on living. I think, I’ve had my time. So, it is very right for me to pass away very soon. 🙂
I do not doubt, that it is a blessing, if it so happens that I leave this earth very soon! 🙂
For anyone who loves me or has ever loved me, I’ll soon be just a memory. For sure, there is nothing wrong with that! Nothing at all 🙂
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You know Auntyuta, though I’m a generation younger than you, I feel much the same way. I’ve had my time here on earth and I was lucky to be born in a time of plenty. I’ve enjoyed many wonderful adventures. Yes, there are always more things to pique my interest and curiosity, but if I were to die tomorrow, I’d be at peace. I never expected to feel so comfortable about finality. The geo-political situation in the world has lead me to expect a rather grim future. I feel badly that young people will have so many more difficulties to navigate just to survive. And it grieves me when someone in their teens, 20s, even 50s dies. It seems so unfair that I got so many more years to grow, develop, learn and explore.
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You and me! Who knew what it would take to make us embrace our age?
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We’re screwed … in addition to everything else, this is not adding much to my worries!
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Sorry to shove all that under your stressed nose.
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Very interesting subject – thanks for researching and writing about it. Maybe in the end, humans will cause their own demise, and the Earth will go on turning and healing. I do think that the overall birth rate in the world should decrease. I have talked to a few more people lately that are wanting to move to the midwest and get a plot of land in rural communities. Maybe migration patterns will change.
This reminds me of a quote by Michael Crichton from Jurassic Park: “”To the Earth, a hundred years is nothing. A million years is nothing. This planet lives and breathes on a much vaster scale. We can’t imagine its slow and powerful rhythms, and we haven’t got the humility to try. We have been residents here for the blink of an eye. If we are gone tomorrow, the Earth will not miss us . . . Let’s be clear: The planet is not in jeopardy. We are in jeopardy. We haven’t got the power to destroy the planet – or to save it. Be we might have the power to save ourselves.”
Interesting point of view! I can see why you say the human race does not deserve this planet. You have a larger appreciation for the Earth than most.
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I’m with you on the ‘too many humans’ issue, but what a mess we’re leaving behind. 😦
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‘fraid so.
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Too many people, too many humans in a small limited area is a recipe for disaster. I think this can explain why there are so many incredible actions, killings, kidnappings, violence….
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Obviously, I agree, Robert.
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