The pill = sterile men!?

[JagFarlane]

So...was watching The Animal Planets "10 Most Extreme" and they were going on about a lizard where there are only females. And announced it may happen to humans.
Apparently, male sperm count has dropped 50% over the last 30 years. Why? Scientists theorize its all in the water. When a woman takes a contraceptive pill, her body uses only 20% of the hormones in the pill. The rest gets flushed down the toilet. Drinking water is sometimes pulled from rivers, where the waste is filtered out, but not the hormones. This could be causing higher female hormone counts in men, and thus causing less sperm to be produced.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

I'm all for reduction in human populations.

 

[Stella_Omega]

You guys only need a couple of them little critturs anyway....

(I know it's not quite that simple)

Take it easy on that Animal Planet gee whiz stuff, okay? "Scientists theorize" should be; "Some scientists theorize." I think the theory is pretty reasonable, but the TV shows tend to make science be a huge monolith and it isn't.

 

[rgraham666]

Considering how much other shit we pump into the environment I doubt that the tiny amount of hormones in the pill are likely to contribute to this.

More likely it's some subtle biological adaptation humans have always had. When an environment gets too crowded, men get less sperm to keep from overloading the local food supply completely.

 

[Jagged]

That's it I'm on bottled water only.....lol

 

[neonlyte]

That's it I'm on bottled water only.....lol

Don't drink water, it dilutes the sperm...

 

[Elenia26]

I'd need a cite better than Animal Planet to believe that. :dubious:

 

[Guest]

Considering how much other shit we pump into the environment I doubt that the tiny amount of hormones in the pill are likely to contribute to this.

More likely it's some subtle biological adaptation humans have always had. When an environment gets too crowded, men get less sperm to keep from overloading the local food supply completely.

I'm with Rob here.

But I find it interesting that some "scientists" are trying to place the blame for lowered sperm production squarely on women.

Is ami behind this?

 

[lisa123414]

I'm with Rob here.

But I find it interesting that some "scientists" are trying to place the blame for lowered sperm production squarely on women.

Is ami behind this?

*snerk*

I love you sssarahh

 

[Guest]

*snerk*

I love you sssarahh

Back at ya, lovely lisa.

 

[lisa123414]

I mean, can't the fella's just get snipped and then the sperm goes, um, where does it go?

*blows a little kiss to sss*

 

[WRJames]

Couldn't the same thing also be causing earlier puberty in girls? There are many theories as to why that is happening.

 

[Stella_Omega]

I'm with Rob here.

But I find it interesting that some "scientists" are trying to place the blame for lowered sperm production squarely on women.

Nuh-uh. A woman did not create the Pill.

 

[lisa123414]

Couldn't the same thing also be causing earlier puberty in girls? There are many theories as to why that is happening.

Interesting point, my niece hit puberty at 9, why? Girls are married later in our society than ever before, so why are they maturing early?

 

[The_Fractal_King]

So...was watching The Animal Planets "10 Most Extreme" and they were going on about a lizard where there are only females. And announced it may happen to humans.
Apparently, male sperm count has dropped 50% over the last 30 years. Why? Scientists theorize its all in the water. When a woman takes a contraceptive pill, her body uses only 20% of the hormones in the pill. The rest gets flushed down the toilet. Drinking water is sometimes pulled from rivers, where the waste is filtered out, but not the hormones. This could be causing higher female hormone counts in men, and thus causing less sperm to be produced.

Why would it drop over the last 30 years when contraceptive pills started like 50 years ago?

In any event if this is true they should either:
1) make the pills 80% smaller
2) add testosterone to women's drinking water (With no ulterior motive, of course. Fair's fair after all.)

 

[JagFarlane]

Interesting point, my niece hit puberty at 9, why? Girls are married later in our society than ever before, so why are they maturing early?

That has more to do with diet. As some hunters can tell you, following the whitetailed deer, a similiar thing happens when there is plenty of food available, you'll see does that were born that year, pregnant in the winter.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

That has more to do with diet. As some hunters can tell you, following the whitetailed deer, a similiar thing happens when there is plenty of food available, you'll see does that were born that year, pregnant in the winter.

And probably lack of exercise, though no one's sure. What is known is that since 1900 puberty has started six months earlier in girls with each passing decade. How long can this keep up?

 

[lisa123414]

This could be causing higher female hormone counts in men, and thus causing less sperm to be produced.

This is something that could be measured, so one would think a scientist would not have to speculate. Of course, the case must be made to get somebody to pay for the measuring.

 

[emap]

Perhaps the two are related and not because of excess hormones ending up in the drinking water.

I mean look at like this, as was said earlier excessive food quantity leads to whitetailed deer coming into season faster. Perhaps us gals are doing the same thing, we are eating better now than ever so we are going into puberty faster.

Of course men's sperm counts are going down for the same reason, all of the food available that is making the females ready to mate faster means a population explosion. To combat this the men's sperm counts are going down so it takes more tries to produce a child. Meaning the guy who can hold onto the female the longest wins.

OK actually I am pretty sure the two are related but not from the quantity of food available or the survival of the fittest thing I had going up there. I think they are both happening because of what we are eating. I mean think about it, DDT was used because they did not see any problems with it's use, it was not until after it had been sprayed so much that people noticed a problem, ten years later. Well maybe not ten but it wasn't after it was sprayed anyway.

Perhaps there are other things being used in the production of our foods that has a similar effect, but nobody has bothered to look. So perhaps because of this preservative or that additive girls are hitting puberty faster and men are losing sperm count.

Not to say they could figure out which is doing that, may be a combination of several. Even if they do look for a combination or one chemical doing these things, they may not be able to find it simply because much of the human body is still we don't know.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

Why would it drop over the last 30 years when contraceptive pills started like 50 years ago?

It took 20 years for the pill to be popular enough to effect enough of the water supply?

I'm not saying I believe any of this. That is just me being argumentative

 

[AvoidingRealWork]

OMG, this is how the book "Children of Men" comes true!

 

[Stella_Omega]

Interesting point, my niece hit puberty at 9, why? Girls are married later in our society than ever before, so why are they maturing early?

I cannot find any references to this in a quick google search, but somewhere I read about a study that linked puberty with weight-- once a girl's body is big enough to support a pregnancy, she will go into the changes that make it possible.

We have good food supplies, and our kids are growing larger earlier.

Like I say, I have no citations at hand...

 

[Guest]

I cannot find any references to this in a quick google search, but somewhere I read about a study that linked puberty with weight-- once a girl's body is big enough to support a pregnancy, she will go into the changes that make it possible.

We have good food supplies, and our kids are growing larger earlier.

Like I say, I have no citations at hand...

Yup. Magical weight is 48kg.

Maharat

 

[scheherazade_79]

I think a lesbian Planet Earth would be quite a fun place to be

 

[Guest]

I think a lesbian Planet Earth would be quite a fun place to be

But I like the dangly bits.