Falling sperm crisis?

Discussion in 'Science and Technology' started by lurok, Dec 5, 2012.

  1. lurok

    lurok Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Male-fertility-falls-France

    I thought this might be more appropriate to S&T rather than Misc or TNZ as infertility is a serious personal issue for those affected and shouldn't be made light of.

    This is the precis:
    but I'm curious what the science minds here think of the research and possible causes. Although the study is from France I've seen other news reports today that suggest it might be a wider phenomenon in developed countries.
     
    Last edited: Dec 5, 2012
  2. Robert Maxwell

    Robert Maxwell memelord Premium Member

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    I wonder if they are comparing men of the same age, or looking at general population fertility, which would understandably be declining in a population whose age pyramid is shifting upward.

    This is definitely a big deal but I am at a loss to explain it. Seems like nobody knows why this is happening. I've heard the tight underwear hypothesis before, and it's conceivable that that's a contributor, but I would find it hard to believe that'd cause an almost 1/3 decline in fertility over a mere 16 years.
     
  3. Relayer1

    Relayer1 Admiral Admiral

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    I've always worn tight underwear - boxers are uncomfortable.

    When we started trying I was hoping / expecting it would take a while, if ever (I wasn't quite on board !).

    As far as we can tell, it took two days. Tight underwear doesn't do much damage...
     
  4. Robert Maxwell

    Robert Maxwell memelord Premium Member

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    Heh, same here. We actually thought it would take at least 6 months to bear fruit (so to speak), so we were prepared for a long haul. This was more due to her problems, but I also wear briefs, so we thought it might take a while.

    Yeah, it took maybe a couple weeks. :lol:
     
  5. Scout101

    Scout101 Admiral Admiral

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    If anything, i'd think that boxer-briefs have overtaken the traditional tight briefs in popularity, so don't think that's much of a factor...
     
  6. Nerys Ghemor

    Nerys Ghemor Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I wonder if drinking out of--and cooking in--plastic containers that had BPA in it could have contributed to this. While there's not a consensus on the toxicity of BPA, looking at some of the other effects that are strongly suspected for it makes me wonder if it, or a similarly widespread chemical, could be having that effect.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_A#Health_effects
     
  7. Hound of UIster

    Hound of UIster Vice Admiral Admiral

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  8. Mark_Nguyen

    Mark_Nguyen Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I think we started trying about four months prior to the wedding, as we were in our early thirties and didn't want to waste any time after we committed to each other. The timing was such that if we got lucky on the first cycle, it wouldn't be TOO obvious around the time of the nuptials.

    Turns out we got pregnant three days before the wedding, and we didn't find out until after the honeymoon and its associated boozing and partying. In retrospect I'm glad it happened then, since my wife was ultimately diagnosed with hyperemesis gravitum (i.e. mega morning sickness, i.e. what Duchess Kate's going through right now) and her puking her guts out for the first trimester would've been the LAST thing we needed leading up to the wedding!

    Anyhoo, this is potentially a huge problem for people two generations from now; I would hope a cause can be found, and that it's something environmental and hopefully treatable before it goes all Children of Men on us.

    Mark
     
  9. RoJoHen

    RoJoHen Awesome Admiral

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    Perhaps this is the world's way of telling us to slow it down with the procreation. We have enough humans.
     
  10. Robert Maxwell

    Robert Maxwell memelord Premium Member

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    It is no such thing.
     
  11. Geckothan

    Geckothan Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    The dangers of polycarbonates are vastly exaggerated. Yes, they do release BPA when exposed to heat or light, but it's generally not an issue unless you leave a bottle of water in a hot car in direct sunlight all day before drinking from it, or you use plastic containers to cook things in.

    Obviously they still degrade slowly in normal conditions, but the rate is negligible. Yes, you will always be exposed to some BPA when you consume things from such containers, but under normal circumstances, it will take such a long time for the damage to become noticeable that you'll probably have age-related conditions to worry about anyway.

    There's a reason that such bottles/containers have warnings like 'keep out of sunlight', 'do not reuse' (that one is also due to bacterial growth) or 'not suitable for cooking' on them, and people who ignore warnings deserve to lose their sperm anyway. Natural selection!
     
  12. JarodRussell

    JarodRussell Vice Admiral Admiral

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    It's the cell phones. We are doomed.
     
  13. ThunderAeroI

    ThunderAeroI Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I seem to recall either a TNG episode, an SG-1 episode or some sci-fi show that said the reason is that aliens were controlling the growth of the species so that in time there would be no more humans uncontrolled.

    Cant recall what show that was from.
     
  14. farmkid

    farmkid Commodore Commodore

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    ^There was a Stargate SG-1 episode kind of like that. I don't remember the title, but it was somewhere about season 3-4 if I remember right.
     
  15. Mark_Nguyen

    Mark_Nguyen Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    "2010" was the episode title.

    Mark
     
  16. teacake

    teacake Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Never mind, the planet is not in peril. We will soon be reproducing without any need for sperm.

    http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=4725121&page=1#.UMAZWGc3hal

    Plenty of people are working on Parthenogenesis.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenogenesis#Humans
     
  17. Nerys Ghemor

    Nerys Ghemor Vice Admiral Admiral

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    In that top article, they referred to a "Kimono Dragon."

    ?!

    Surely they meant the Komodo Dragon?

    Either way...I'm a little surprised by this premise. Hasn't the Y chromosome in fact existed for millions of years, in spite of this guy's calculation of the odds?
     
  18. teacake

    teacake Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    It's the feminists. They've wounded it.
     
  19. scotpens

    scotpens Professional Geek Premium Member

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    The dangers of just about everything are vastly exaggerated.
     
  20. bigdaddy

    bigdaddy Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Haven't they already figured out how to take a blank sperm, and fill it with another woman's DNA? I remember reading something crazy about it a year or two ago. Men are not needed.

    However I think the cause is all the pills we take. We pee out the drugs, that goes into the water supply. We drink it up. Even small amounts over time cause issues like this.

    And if you want a boy wear boxers. ;)