Scientists confirmed that pollution affects fertility and can cause impotence

In her latest book, reproductive and environmental epidemiologist Shanna Shawn investigates "how our modern world threatens sperm count, disrupts reproductive development in men and women, and jeopardizes the future of the human race." In 2017, she and other researchers published a large-scale study on the Environmental Impact on Male fertility and sperm Quality. And she only confirms what she had already told us: things are going wrong.

“People are acknowledging that we have a reproductive health crisis, but are saying it is due to delayed motherhood, choice or lifestyle. He thinks he can't be a chemist. I say that chemicals play an important causal role. It's hard to use the word "cause," but it's a body of evidence. We have mechanisms and studies in animals and humans,” says the expert, who spent more than 20 years examining the effects of hormone-disrupting chemicals on reproductive health.

After reviewing 185 studies involving nearly 45,000 healthy men, Shanna Shawn and her team found that over the past four decades, sperm counts in men in Western countries have dropped by more than 50 percent.

Also read: Age, sperm count and semen cryopreservation: the eight myths about male fertility

The epidemiologist linked the use of industrial chemicals in everyday products with reduced penile size and testicular volume, decreased sperm count, and impotence. “The unhealthy living practices of our modern world disrupt our hormonal balance, causing varying degrees of reproductive devastation,” she wrote. In her opinion, due to the modification of the reproductive system, the human species would be in danger.

In March of this year, Public Health France published a study suggesting the role of socioeconomic and environmental factors in cryptorchidism, or undescended testicle, that is, the absence of a testicle in the scrotum in young boys. This refers to areas where industrial activities, particularly mining, are potentially the largest source of environmental pollution. In an article, Vice also echoed a 2018 study, conducted by Melbourne scientists, confirming that the plastics present cause genital abnormalities in baby boys.

The chemicals of greatest concern for reproductive health are those that can interfere with or mimic the body's sex hormones, such as testosterone and estrogen, because they make reproduction possible. They can make the body think it has enough of a particular hormone and doesn't need to make more, so production goes down.

Phthalates, used to make soft, flexible plastic, are of paramount importance. We are mainly exposed through food, as we use soft plastic in the manufacturing, processing and packaging of food.

Bisphenol A (BPA), used to toughen plastic and found in cash register receipts and the lining of some canned food containers, is another. It mimics estrogen and is therefore a particularly bad actor on the female side, increasing the risks of fertility problems, but it can affect men as well.

Can we change things? “I think we can. We have the ingenuity and resources to do it. But we need an acknowledgment of the problem and a willingness to change,” Shanna Shawn replies.

In March of this year, Public Health France published a study suggesting the role of socioeconomic and environmental factors in cryptorchidism, or undescended testicle, that is, the absence of a testicle in the scrotum in young boys.