Action must be taken to curb the use of plastic additives linked to plummeting sperm counts, a leading reproductive scientist has warned, as splits over chemical regulation contributed to the collapse of a crucial treaty on plastic pollution.
Across the world, sperm counts have been declining at a rate of about 1% a year for the past 50 years, and human fertility has been diminishing at a similar rate, studies have shown.
Increasing levels of obesity, sedentary lifestyles and ageing populations have all been held up as possible causes. But according to Dr Shanna Swan, professor of environmental medicine and public health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, environmental factors play the most significant role.
This is why I think micro plastics will be the nail in humanity’s coffin, not climate change.
We can survive by digging down, but not if we can’t make more humans.
Not just humanity. Those toxins and microplastics are pretty much everywhere we’ve ever looked for them. Every organism on the planet is facing this same threat.
Microplastics have been found on every part of the planet. The tiny particles of this anthropogenic material have been found buried in Antarctic sea ice, inside the guts of marine animals inhabiting the deepest ocean trenches, and in drinking water around the world.
Hopefully humans all become sterile, it would be a bloodless, natural end to the horror that is humanity.
That sounds like a pretty peaceful end, but imagine how scary it would be being old and basically everyone else is dead.
I thought this was already known for years?
Plastic additive that causes fertility decline? Condoms?
