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Sperm Count Dropping in Western World

scientificamerican.com

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Re: Sperm Count Dropping in Western World

#111

Post by dom0 »

AstralStorm wrote: post #105
scottLobster wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given that this decline apparently started in 1973, I'd say they're probably not the deciding factor.

But actual power lines and other total EM pollution might be. Perhaps at some point local power use (thus LF induction) exceeded safety margins afforded by physical isolation between cables and people?

Power line EM emissions have essentially ~nil power and a human is a very poor antenna for those frequencies (top of the head ~6 orders of magnitude too small), even at very high harmonics (n=20 is just one kilohertz).

Re: Sperm Count Dropping in Western World

#112

Post by dom0 »

djtriptych wrote: post #63
whalesalad wrote: post #42

Are cell phones in our pockets to blame? The effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation on sperm function. – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27601711 More info here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27076112 Also here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26949865 And here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26206279 Here too: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24982785 More fuel for the fire: https:…

I'm gonna go with sitting and stress.

It's one common factor across practically all of the developed world — both sitting and stress have increased harshly for kids and young adults in the last 30-40 years.

Re: Sperm Count Dropping in Western World

#113

Post by manmal »

cameldrv wrote: post #75
mgberlin wrote: post #15

I've personally become concerned recently with the abundance of BPA and it's effect on the endocrine system of men. Between disposable water bottles, aluminum can liners, and food stored in plastic containers, there's a huge amount of exposure to this endocrine disruptor. The article doesn't mention it in particular, but I think it's worth being cautious over.

If you're specifically worried about BPA, perhaps a larger exposure is handling cash register receipts. Don't take em if you don't need em, and wash your hands before you eat anything if you do need to handle them.

That might explain why I've watched almost all newcomer cashiers in our local supermarket gain weight quickly after starting their job. Of course, the stress might also be to blame.

Re: Sperm Count Dropping in Western World

#114

Post by nateconq »

izzydata wrote: post #35
dreamdu5t wrote: post #29

I think it's simple: fat unhealthy men have lower sperm counts and America has way more fat unhealthy men over the last 40 years. Doesn't look like the meta analysis dealt with this.

We can only hope. This would be a great example of natural selection at work if fat unhealthy people couldn't reproduce and thinner healthy people could.

Only in our current environment. If food was scarce, wouldn't those who can store energy better be more likely to survive?

Re: Sperm Count Dropping in Western World

#115

Post by manmal »

rubicon33 wrote: post #69
mjmj wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely agree and to that end I try my best to avoid eating, drinking or storing consumables in any plastics (I just don't trust them), which is really hard. Especially avoiding heating or reheating anything in plastic.

There was an excellent video/documentary that I watched a while back, in which a woman spent a month COMPLETELY avoiding plastics. Sadly, the BPA levels in her blood did not drop significantly. It seems that even if YOU don't come into contact with these chemicals, chances are your food already has. It informed me that if I really wanted to avoid plasticizers, I could never eat out, and would likely need to purchase…

And the alternative is.. taking estrogen blockers?

Re: Sperm Count Dropping in Western World

#116

Post by dom0 »

maxerickson wrote: post #71
djtriptych wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not if population density is the trigger. How could the body evolve to be aware of national boundaries?

North America has low population density relative to most of the world. Probably even more so if you do some sort of aggregation of the density that people live at rather than averaging population across land area. Suburbia and such.

> North America has low population density relative to most of the world.

Well the quotient N(north america) / A(north america) is low, but this value does not have to match the average or median population density in areas around samples.

In other words, yes, America is a big country, but it's big cities are just as densely populated as big cities anywhere else.

Re: Sperm Count Dropping in Western World

#117

Post by theptip »

kindadumb wrote: post #104
dekhn wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The linkage between consumption of these chemicals, and their exact nature of harm, is not well established- it's not "fairly conclusive" at all. What we have is a bunch of in vitro and in vivo studies, but not actual epidemiological evidence of the quality required to make rational policy decisions. If you believe otherwise, I'm happy to ready any high quality studies you can find. Pleaes don't just cherry pick a fe…

"be careful in doing your review." Says the lazy poster who just made a bunch of claims himself and didn't cite anything!

The burden of proof is on the one making unsupported claims, not on the one questioning the unsupported claims.

(It's tedious to post supporting studies on every post, so there's nothing nefarious about claims being initially unsupported.)

I do agree that the "be careful..." comment is perhaps open to being interpreted as snarky, though it's always hard to infer the intent in a forum such as this.

Re: Sperm Count Dropping in Western World

#118

Post by nate_meurer »

Raphmedia wrote: post #98
wonderwonder wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Want an interesting read? Go to your city water providers website and read up on all the pollutants they are over recommended levels on. Then look at the pollutants they are over the legal limit on. We assume that the water in our taps is safe to drink but there are often a myriad of tests that our utility companies are failing. For example, I live in a relatively well to do suburb and my utility is over the recommen…

Even worst is all the extra female hormones coming from birth control pills and livestock (mostly milk cows) that are not getting filtered out of by water providers.

If I may pick a nit: there are no pills in sewage streams. We're talking drugs in solution or suspension (the term "dissolved solids" is used in the water treatment industry).

Drugs can very difficult to remove, and water treatment facilities are only able to remove roughly half [https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/only-half-of-drug...].

Re: Sperm Count Dropping in Western World

#119

Post by azeirah »

xiaoma wrote: post #107
kindadumb wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"be careful in doing your review." Says the lazy poster who just made a bunch of claims himself and didn't cite anything!

Welcome to HN. As someone who's been here for over a decade (and had this account nearly that long), I can assure you this is normal behavior for the forum.

The site doesn't encourage citing or critical thinking, although it does attract people who're interested in that. If you wish for a community like this, open a new thread and try discussing communities that do succeed at promoting critical and well-cited discussions like Reddit's /r/askhistorians.
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