Will the earth be female? Panic in the gene Pool Part II

If a man has less than 20 million sperm cells per milli litre, then his chances of becoming a father are dramatically reduced. Fortunately, this not yet the situation in the industrial nations; where the male sterility rate currently hovers around 8 to 11% of the population. But the trend is alarming, and the scientists are conduction more research into the causes.

The fall in the sperm counts around the world needs considerable research. Some scientists believe that the stress of the modern work environment has a strong retarding effect on the production of sperm cells. But scientist’s opinion increasingly focuses on so called environmental toxins as the main culprits.

Among the other things, it has been established that farm laborers working on the banana plantations and cotton fields of Central America who had been exposed to pesticides had a high diminished level of fertility.

Subsequent studies show that the similar phenomenon has occurred among the wild mammals of the great lake region of US an area which is heavily polluted by industrial effluents. All these cases concerned chemicals whose effects are similar to those of Estrogen, the female sex hormone. So far it has had been possible to identify 50 such substances, which are primarily through the industrial manufacturer of chemicals, and occur as additional or auxiliary substances- also called plasticizers- in many synthetic materials such as laundry power.

Research is currently being conducted to find out whether the continuous contact with these pseudo –estrogens is responsible for the reduction in human sperm production.