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Thursday, March 31st, 2022

Plastic pollution could make much of humanity infertile, experts fear

Author:     MATTHEW ROZSA
Source:     Salon
Publication Date:     MARCH 27, 2022 2:00PM (EDT)
 Link: Plastic pollution could make much of humanity infertile, experts fear
Stephan:   Because, with occasional exceptions, few and far between, humans have never considered technologies from the perspective of their impact on the wellbeing of life, like oil, and nuclear, the wellbeing impact of plastics has not been on most governments' radar. That is now changing but very slowly, probably too slowly. And the implications are dire. Here is an example of what I mean.
Illustration Lowering Sperm Count / Getty

Since the start of the 2020s, humanity has faced worldwide calamity after worldwide calamity, all of them raising questions about our survival as a species. The COVID-19 pandemic has already claimed millions of lives and not yet finished its rampage. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has raised the specter of nuclear holocaust, which many assumed has subsided with the end of the Cold War. Even as these problems worsen, climate change continues to quietly creep along in the background, overheating the planet for future generations.

Yet what if, on top of all these things, there is an even more dystopian crisis in the offing — one in which humans are no longer able to reproduce without artificial help because we have filled the environment with chemicals that have altered our bodies?

Scientists believe this is not only possible, it is likely to happen within our lifetimes.

Understanding why involves three statistics: First, that a human male who has fewer than […]

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