A new book has been published and it gives a terrible warning to the human population. The book, with the long title “Count Down: How our modern world threatens sperm numbers, alters male and female reproductive development, and affects the future of the human race,” details information on how sperm count has declined in recent years at alarming rates.
The author Mt. Sinai Medical School epidemiologist Shanna Swan and her findings come from a meta-analysis conducted back in 2017. Swan has created a future loop to measure the success of the our fertility rates.
“If you look at the loop on sperm count and push it forward – which is always dangerous – it will reach zero in 2045,” Swan told him AXIOS. “That’s worrying, at least.”
Swan believes that total sperm count in the Western world fell by 59% between 1973 and 2011. This may explain why global fertility levels have fallen from 5.06 in 1964 to 2.4 in 2018.
However, this may have nothing to do with sperm count. As countries progress, their citizens naturally tend to have fewer children. As society grows, women have longer jobs and less time for children. There could be a number of other reasons for people with fewer children.
However, according to Swan, there is no denying that chemicals play a role in reducing pregnancy. She cites these endocrine disrupting chemicals and cites phthalates and bisphenol-A as a few examples. These chemicals are found almost everywhere including ATM receipts.
“Chemicals in our environment and unhealthy lifestyle habits in our modern world are disrupting our hormonal balance, causing varying degrees of reproductive stress,” Swan writes.
Swan also says obesity levels and other factors are rising as some of the reasons for pregnancy decline. What does all this mean? Be it chemicals or other elements, fertility is definitely declining. However, given that we are an overpopulated planet, this may not be a bad thing.