Over the last seventy-five years, men have seen a sharp reduction in reproductive capacity, and evidence suggests that commonly found chemicals are to blame.
If that news isn’t stark enough for the future of humankind, these chemicals are also making us dumber.
A recent piece in the New York Times drew attention to an important issue: endocrine-disrupting chemicals in everyday consumer products are killing or disabling sperm and making men sterile.
The numbers are extremely troubling. Scientists say that approximately 90% of sperm in a typical young man are misshapen, meaning they are unable to swim correctly. Additionally, sperm counts have decreased sharply over the last seventy-five years. As one researcher bluntly stated, “Not everyone who wants to reproduce will be able to.”
Our grandfathers may not have been able to understand our smart phones, but their ability to produce offspring vastly outpaced our own.
There’s a great deal of evidence to suggest endocrine-disrupting chemicals are the major cause of this problem. They’re found in plastics, pesticides, and many other products. Quite simply, these chemicals disrupt the proper functioning of hormones. One study by Canadian scientists found that adding endocrine disruptors to Lake Ontario turned male fathead minnows into intersexual fish (fish with both male and female characteristics), which are unable to reproduce. Unfortunately, it is far from the only study positing a link between chemicals and infertility.
The mayhem caused by these chemicals appears to happen in utero, when endocrine disruptors mimic certain hormones and confuse the biological process that turns a fetus into a male.
Chemical exposure, unfortunately, affects far more than just reproductive health. A recent study discussed in The Atlantic details the damage that certain environmental contaminants—including endocrine disruptors, but also lead, ethanol, mercury, arsenic, and more—can have on the brain. These effects include lower IQs, ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, and more.
“Our very great concern,” the authors of the new study write, “is that children worldwide are being exposed to unrecognized toxic chemicals that are silently eroding intelligence, disrupting behaviors, truncating future achievements, and damaging societies.”
The authors also note that genetic factors account for only 30 to 40% of all cases of brain development disorders. They suggest that environmental exposures to industrial chemicals are causing a “silent pandemic of neurodevelopmental toxicity.”
What are federal regulators doing to deal with the rise in infertility and this “silent pandemic” of brain disorders? Not much. Humans have made, found, or used over 50 million unique chemicals, yet federal regulators have tested only 200. And only five of those were deemed harmful enough to be subject to new regulations.
This isn’t simply a case of federal agencies being asleep at the wheel. Sometimes it’s plain old corruption, as we’ll see in the next piece in this week’s Pulse of Natural Health.
EPA: Carcinogens Are OK with Us
Want Alzheimer’s? Keep Consuming Sugar
New Budget Puts the FDA Even Further into the Pocket of Big Pharma
And what will you say about the 65 million children that have been aborted?
That if you don’t want an abortion, don’t have one. Your rights end where my body begins.
And now, since there is nothing in what you post worth debating, and absolutely nothing that is even remotely of any interest to me, I am blocking you now. And since you only understand tiny words and simple concepts I will have to explain that to you in a way you will understand. I will not see one word you post, ever. Not even the Oh! So Smart! Comeback! With All! The Best! Words! that you were planning on writing as you read this with one finger under the words on the screen and your lips moving.
Oh you can post it anyway, of course, but you’ll just end up looking like the moron mutt that keeps barking at the tree the squirrel left hours ago.
See, I have better things to do with my time than scrape the rancid poo from a fanatic religious yapdog out of my email.
Don’t want to get pregnant, keep your legs closed, use birth control moron!
Yes, because that works with every situation ever (it doesn’t). Tell that to the one in five women who have experienced rape at least once in their lifetime.
That would require having empathy and compassion. Never seen one of these control freaks that was interested in anything other than sending women back to 1850, and giving them fewer rights than a prize breeding heifer.
You have a fair point, I will concede to that. 🙂
Congratulations, Barbie, on proving there is absolutely nothing inside your thick, tiny plastic skull but the ends of your hair and air.
Your home-schooling is really paying off for you; you’ve achieved a literacy level of a 2nd grader! Well done! I bet you can graduate to Chief Burger Flipper now!
You little bots just can’t get off the script, can you? Because you just can’t give up on the POWER RUSH it gives you when you get to dictate what happens in other people’s lives. You’re real control freaks, aren’t you? I bet you just loved A Handmaid’s Tale. I bet you took it as a manual of operation. Sooo cute. How about if you take a long walk off a short pier?.
Since there is nothing in what you post worth debating, and absolutely nothing that is even remotely of any interest to me, I am blocking you now. And since you only understand tiny words and simple concepts I will have to explain that to you in a way you will understand. I will not see one word you post, ever. Not even the Oh! So Smart! Comeback! With All! The Best! Words! that you were planning on writing as you read this with one finger under the words on the screen and your lips moving.
Oh you can post it anyway, of course, but you’ll just end up looking like the moron mutt that keeps barking at the tree the squirrel left hours ago.
See, I have better things to do with my time than scrape the rancid poo from a Trump yapdog out of my email.
12 The wicked plots against the just,
And gnashes at him with his teeth.
13 The Lord laughs at him,
For He sees that his day is coming.
14 The wicked have drawn the sword
And have bent their bow,
To cast down the poor and needy,
To slay those who are of upright conduct.
15 Their sword shall enter their own heart,
And their bows shall be broken. Psalm 37
Praise be to ZEUS!!!! Oh wait…Praise be to the Mayan Sun God!!!! Oh wait…Praise be to Jesus!!! Oh wait…Praise be to Allah!!!! Oh wait…Praise be to Little Red Ridding Hood!!!!
Yup…just as credible.
Don’t you have a child’s genitals to chop up somewhere? Maybe a witch to burn? Maybe a murderous Crusade? Maybe a new inquisition? How about some natives to either put to the sword or convert to your brain washing?
According to science, we evolved from ocean slime. As species grew into other species, intellect grew. We’ve reached our peak. Science brought out few years ago man now uses 5% less of brain, harder time learning, more violent ie survival kicking in. How can chemicals have anything to do with evolution now in reverse? Either we evolved or didn’t, not both. Evolution a lie, but is what they go by.
Congratulations, Barbie, on proving there is absolutely nothing inside your thick, tiny plastic skull but the ends of your hair and air.
Your home-schooling is really paying off for you; you’ve achieved a literacy level of a 2nd grader! Well done! I bet you can graduate to Chief Burger Flipper now!
Since there is nothing in what you post worth debating, and absolutely nothing that is even remotely of any interest to me, I am blocking you now. And since you only understand tiny words and simple concepts I will have to explain that to you in a way you will understand. I will not see one word you post, ever. Not even the Oh! So Smart! Comeback! With All! The Best! Words! that you were planning on writing as you read this with one finger under the words on the screen and your lips moving.
Oh you can post it anyway, of course, but you’ll just end up looking like the moron mutt that keeps barking at the tree the squirrel left hours ago.
See, I have better things to do with my time than scrape the rancid poo from a religious fanatic, microcephalic Chihuahua out of my email.
Don’t like what’s said? Check out your basic college courses, such as bio, micro bio, physics. Probably changed over the years. Made easier because of whining from ‘minority’ ie inferior races. SAT’s made easier, required GPA lowered, etc , claiming these were ‘white school requirements’ thus are discriminating.
Uh, racist much??? Someone needs to do some unbiased research on the subject because I can tell you right now everything you’ve said is wrong. I don’t care to get into specifics because I’m in no mood nor am I obligated. However, do yourself and everyone else a favor: pull the wool from your eyes and dust the dark abyss between your ears, learn a little bit about the world around you and the struggles minorities face in the face of white supremacy.
The old Home-Schooled-Wonder there just couldn’t resist spouting off even when I told him with the smallest possible words, underlined, italicized, and boldfaced, that I wouldn’t see what he posted. So if he can’t buy that clue, I have small hope for him ever getting a genuine education, much less compassion and empathy.
If you were truly a person of faith, you would not be spouting hatred and racism, Cheetah. We still lead the world with our universities, so I don’t think your points are accurate. Evolution is accepted science. Natural selection is about greater advantages for survival, whether genetic OR behavioral, and that is the mechanism behind evolution as a principle. But there must be variation for selection to act upon, and variation comes from genetic mutation, which occurs in individuals every day, from both natural and outside (especially chemical) sources. The only mutations that ‘count’ in an evolutionary sense are those that occur in the reproductive cells (eggs and sperm), because they are the only ones that are expressed in the next generation. So, you are revealing your own ignorance about the entire process of evolution here. If we have huge numbers of new negative mutations in our populations, it would have a detrimental effect on us all, not to mention the individual suffering in those who face brain damage that is caused by human carelessness in chemical (especially petroleum and heavy metal based) inventions. The irony would be that our ability to invent new toxins has outpaced our willingness to check for safety before marketing a product.
Isn’t it adorable how even when I tell this dweeb in the smallest possible words, with italics, boldfaced and underlining, that I won’t see what he comes back with, he just can’t keep his yap shut? What a maroon!
“man now uses 5% less of brain” Where did you learn this? I have not heard this before.
Alex Jones and World News Daily, of course! Or maybe one of those supermarket tabloids. You know, “real news” not “fake news”. Sheesh. That home schooling is really paying off for him.
Thats a straight up lie. EVERY anatomy and physiology 101 student learns this. Nature doesn’t evolve something 95% beyond it’s function. The true problem with people NOT using their brains is due to social conditioning. Of course making brains out of coco puffs doesn’t help either. We are DOOMED as a species. Just look at what people are feeding their kids, it’s ALREADY TOO late. I’m just here for the flashy ending at this stage.
“Over the last seventy-five years, men have seen a sharp reduction in reproductive capacity,” Where did you learn this? If true, individuals might care, but since overpopulation is a concern, as a species, why should we care?
Please try to answer both questions.
I believe we may see a sharp decline in Western society which I blame on petroleum based products such as plastics.nylon & pesticides, whereas in some parts of the world that are devastated by famine appear to have an abundance of off springs. I note that the clothes are made of cotton fibres & probably do not use pesticides on their crops when they do have water.
You should care if you are going to retire soon. Because there will not be enough young people to support you. And if you are still young, you should care about how many old people you will need to support.
InfoWars and Alex Jones, I suspect, or some other conspiracy theory site. Because, of course, those are all “real news” as opposed to those pesky things like facts.
The last three “Replies” to my 2 questions above, are not replies at all. Please do not confuse my questions and concerns with yours. A statements was made. I am asking the person who made the statement 2 specific questions. If that person does not respond in a reasonable length of time, I think we can discount the statement.
” “Over the last seventy-five years, men have seen a sharp reduction in
reproductive capacity,” Where did you learn this? If true, individuals
might care, but since overpopulation is a concern, as a species, why
should we care?
Please try to answer both questions.”