Are Boys Disappearing Because of Gender Bender Chemicals?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 09.22.08
"Something is happening to today's boys and men: Fewer are being born compared with girls, they're having more trouble in school, virility and fertility are down and testicular cancer rates are up. Now, scientists say these 'fragile males' may be more vulnerable than females to pollutants, affecting their development as early as the womb."
Martin Mittelstaedt of the Globe and Mail writes about how "Researchers tracking childhood behavioural disorders, sperm counts, testicular cancer and even the shrinking size of male gonads are convinced that something is amiss. The University of Pittsburgh's Devra Davis, in a study issued last year, found that the U.S. and Japan combined had a staggering tally of 262,000 "missing boys" from 1970 to about 2000 because of a decline in the sex ratio at birth. Although it could be a statistical anomaly, she says the figure is "very worrisome."
Some think it might be due to endocrine disruptors in the environment. He lists "science's top five worries over the fate of the human male."
Not as many boys as there used to be....
1. Lost boys
Studies on births from the U.S., Japan, and Canada have found a drop in the percentage of boys born compared with girls. The reason isn't known.
2. Declining harvest
Men in farm country can be half as prolific when it comes to making sperm as their city counterparts, raising the possibility that pesticides undermine male fertility.
3. Downsizing
It's disputed by chemical companies, but some researchers say they have found an everyday plastic compound - phthalates - that feminizes baby boys, causing penises and other reproductive organs to be smaller.
4. Hormones not so raging
If you're a middle-aged man, you're likely to be less virile than your father because you make less testosterone. In recent decades, the decline has averaged about 1 per cent a year. If it continues over another generation or two, the consequences could be dire.
5. Equipment failure
Rates of testicular cancer, hypospadias and other genital abnormalities have soared over recent decades, rising by more than 50 per cent each.
Mittelstaedt then lists the four chemicals that are causing the biggest concern:
-Bisphenol A
-Phthalates
-Polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDE)
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB)
More in the Globe and Mail
TreeHugger on Gender Benders and Phthalates
President Bush Says "Baby, Get That Phthalate-Filled Building Block Out Of Your Mouth!"
Ask Treehugger: What Is An Endocrine Distruptor?
Congress Will Do USEPA's Job: Reduce Childhood Exposure to Phthalates in Toys
God damned fucking bastards! Killing my sperm and fucking up my libido! I say we kill them all!
Seriously though, it is quite sad that there is NOTHING anyone can do about this problem. If you live on this earth, you are going to get massive pollutants entering your body. Live in the middle of nowhere, and they will still track you down. Sad state of affairs I tell you.
Eating soy products also seems to lower sperm counts. Here's a recent study about this:
It seems that siredrick above must have run into one of the other side effects of soy: it raises the level of aggression in monkeys and evidently bloggers.
My husband and I are vegetarians but both have more energy and fewer aches after having given up soy. It's a shame though, since the soy manufacturers have finally come out with really tasty mock meat. Maybe they will move on to chickpeas some day!
This really has the potential to be a very serious problem very soon.
The irony is that with only one exception, everyone I know who is pregnant/has given birth in the past year or so has had boys. Sometimes twin boys. And I'm at that age where everyone got married three or so years ago and now everyone is having kids. So that's a lot of boys. I'm not worried.
This is not to provoke debate, but my question is: have the statisitcs of abortions in both countries been taken into account? Surely there is an effect on expected population counts given the rates of abortion globally (~42 million abortions in 2003 and 46 million in 1995, according to guttmacher.org).
If we are to present other man-made causes like pesticides and hormone-mimicing compunds as culprits, then another manufactured cause would be termination of millions of preganacies per year.
If abortion rates have been taken into account, the "missing" numbers could just be the result of statistics' inaccuracies; there is always a +/- approximation. Given that the missing number is 262,000 over 30 years, a +/- factor sounds like that source of the discrepancy.
So, do we really have anything to worry about? Granted, dangerous compounds are still dangerous, but I think our species is more resilient than people think. We will go on, and if you want to be Darwinistic about it, the strong will survive and overcome the obstacles either the environment or our own species throws at us.
I take serious issue with the way in which point #3 is worded. The suggestion that a smaller penis somehow makes a man "more feminine" is highly offensive to both women and men. There's nothing "feminine" about a penis, regardless of its size. A penis is the most literal image of masculinity. This phrasing plays into the sexist notion of women emasculating men.
I don't think this is necessarily a cause for concern. There are already too many freakin' people!
Or maybe it's just natural selection. Maybe the human race doesn't need as many males. My larger size and greater strength serve nothing as I sit at my desk all day. I do the same work as my female coworkers and yet I require more fuel. Maybe I am becoming obsolete. Maybe I am the American automobile industry in dockers.
Y: The Last Man...
Also, gosh, maybe I should get my sperm checked out. I'm vegan and Japanese. Soy is kind of important.