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Global decline in male fertility linked to common pesticides

https://lemmy.world/post/8330996

Global decline in male fertility linked to common pesticides - Lemmy.World

A prolonged decline in male fertility in the form of sperm concentrations appears to be connected to the use of pesticides, according to a study published Wednesday. Researchers compiled, rated and reviewed the results of 25 studies of certain pesticides and male fertility and found that men who had been exposed to certain classes of pesticides had significantly lower sperm concentrations. The study, published Wednesday in Environmental Health Perspectives, included data from more than 1,700 men and spanned several decades. “No matter how we looked at the analysis and results, we saw a persistent association between increasing levels of insecticide and decreases in sperm concentration,” said study author Melissa Perry, who is an environmental epidemiologist and the dean of the College of Public Health at George Mason University. “I would hope this study would get the attention of regulators seeking to make decisions to keep the public safe from inadvertent, unplanned impacts of insecticides.”

Nov 16, 2023 at 12:29pmWeb
Show threadAussiemandeusNov 16, 2023

Well shit, what can we do?

Organic food only maybe

Show threadjmcsNov 16, 2023
That’s one solution, but even being more careful with what pesticides are used would help in this case (though it would still be devastating for the insect population and will come back to bite us in other ways)?
Show threadmihntNov 16, 2023
They still use pesticides growing organic food.
Show threadBolexForSoupNov 16, 2023

Just like one can’t assume no pesticides because it’s “organic,” one also can’t assume all organic growing involves pesticides. Your comment is a bit ambiguous so just want to make not clear to folks that It’s entirely case by case.

Basically organic farms can use pesticides.

Show threadbluGillNov 16, 2023
Conventional farms do not have to use pesticides as well.
Show threadel_twittoNov 16, 2023
Source?
Show threadquindracoNov 16, 2023

You want a source on the definition of organic food? That’s tough, since there’s no one standard definition - different people mean different things by the term.

Here is a source for organic foods being defined largely by avoiding synthetic substances. That means all “natural” or non-synthetic pesticides would be allowed and hence expected. Of course, I can find you another source with a competing definition.

Ultimately, because “organic” means whatever the speaker wants it to mean at the time, it’s impossible to really have a rational discussion about whether or not organic farms use pesticides.

Organic 101: Allowed and Prohibited Substances

This is the second  installment of the Organic 101 series that explores different aspects of the USDA organic regulations. Organic standards are designed to allow natural substances in organic farming while prohibiting synthetic substances. The National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances—a component of the organic standards—lists the exceptions to this basic rule.

Show threadclockwork_octopusNov 16, 2023

Jesus, dude, just search for it yourself, it’s not that difficult

organic doesn’t mean pesticide free

Pesticide Ingredients Used in Organic Agriculture

Show threadMindSkipperBro12Nov 17, 2023
He made the claim, he must back it up.
Show threadmihntNov 17, 2023
I think everyone has it covered for me. Besides it being common sense.
Show threadSelfAwareCoderNov 16, 2023
Organic food typically has more pesticides, since gmos are often attempting to remove the need for pesticides
Show threadJajcusNov 16, 2023
Also organic farming relies on old types of pesticides instead of the modern ones which are designed to be more effective and safe.
Show threadsteal_your_faceNov 16, 2023
Have a source for this?
Show threadsethNov 17, 2023
FDA, EPA, and the Department of Agriculture. Pesticides and drugs are both heavily regulated and new ones do not gain approval or even make it through early test phases unless and until they can demonstrate equivalent or better efficacy compared to existing alternatives, with equivalent or fewer side effects and environmental hazards.
Show threadel_twittoNov 16, 2023
Source?
Show threadwildgingerNov 16, 2023

Any farmer? Including me?

Organic is nebulous, first off. But depending on your region, the organic label just makes some specific pesticides off limits. Which means we over apply the stuff we can use.

There isnt a modern produce company on the planet who doesnt use pesticides. You cant compete otherwise. Only pesticide free foods are locally grown by very very very small gardens and farms.

Show threadHeartyBeastNov 16, 2023
This depends very much on the country you are in - perhaps that's the way it works in the US. But in the UK Soil Association standards limits the kin dof permissable pesitcides and how they are used quite strictly: https://www.soilassociation.org/media/23378/gb-farming-growing.pdf - see page 63 onward
Show threadASaltPepperNov 16, 2023
Big regrets not washing those blueberries before eating them now.
Show threadandrewNov 16, 2023
Depends on whether you want kids though. Free birth control, just eat more pesticides by never washing your produce!
Show threadASaltPepperNov 16, 2023

Can’t wait to see someone say.

Oh I don’t need a condom I ate some unwashed raspberries earlier

Show threadSkybreakerEngineerNov 16, 2023
Can’t wait to hear Alex Jones lie about this one, I hope aliens get involved again
Show threadPainInTheAESNov 16, 2023
Nah the chemicals in the crops are making the sperm gay, fellow policy wonk.
Show threadFafnerNov 16, 2023
That saves me a shitload on a vasectomy.
Show threadBernie EcclestonedNov 16, 2023
Just drink Roundup!
Show threadFrigidAphelionNov 16, 2023
More Roundup, please!
Show threadspamfajitasNov 16, 2023
Another round of Roundup?
Show threadSir_KevinNov 16, 2023
Vasectomies are actually pretty inexpensive.
Show threadGregoryTheGreatNov 16, 2023
Is this a bad thing? Fewer kids in the future seems like a win.
Show threadBolexForSoupNov 16, 2023
Not everyone agrees with this
Show threadGregoryTheGreatNov 16, 2023
How long can growth continue in a finite system though. It must slow down eventually. Why not now?
Show threadbluGillNov 16, 2023
Growth is slowing. While the exact top isn't clear, anyone who looks at this stuff has concluded the earth's population will peak sometime in the next 50years and start shrinking.
Show threadIWantToFuckSpezNov 16, 2023
Depends if the economy can cope with the shrinking labor force and demand. And who is going to take care of all these old people. Unless we have automated a large part of our economy by then either we’d be fucked or the developing nations will be exploited even harder.
Show threadgandalf_der_12teNov 17, 2023
  • automate
  • cut down the bullshit jobs
  • ?
  • profit for the people
Show threadBlanketsWithSmallpoxNov 16, 2023

African overpopulation was seriously overweighted back when people were talking about global warming in the 00s.

It’s never been an issue we didn’t have solutions for.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMo3nZHVrZ4

Overpopulation & Africa

YouTube
Show threadFermionNov 16, 2023

There’s no fda approved male birth control because everything they’ve tried to specifically target fertility has other unacceptable side effects.

So view this as a canary in a coal mine scenario. This is one aspect of health that’s easy to measure, but without further study we cannot assume that there aren’t other more severe health complications associated with exposure to pesticides.

Show threadEmpathicVagrantNov 16, 2023
What are the unacceptable side effects to a vasectomy
Show threadFermionNov 16, 2023
Sterilization is not equivalent to birth control. To be considered birth control, fertility should return shortly after the cessation of usage. Since vasectomies are considered permanent it’s not in the same category.
Show threadHorseWithNoNameNov 17, 2023
That’s funny since there’s countless negative side effects to female birth control
Show threadNoneOfUrBusinessNov 16, 2023
It's not for countries with shrinking populations. The most sustainable model is a roughly constant population, any lower and you run into the issues of an aging population (see: Japan and Korea).
Show threadnameisnotimportantNov 16, 2023
This is fantastic news, all the better for the planet 👍
Show threadGutsBerserkNov 17, 2023
Not really, a regular sized corporation pollutes / destroys more than a dozen million of humans
Show threadpensivepangolinNov 16, 2023
Im a little offended that Monsanto thinks my sperm are insects if I’m being honest
Show threadikiddNov 16, 2023
Most of the studies were about people applying the insecticides, not the general public. And it’s well known that insecticides are far from safe, if you aren’t wearing PPE around them you’re going to pay a price.
Show threadVilianNov 16, 2023
the male fertily and sperm count are skrinking on every male, not only the ones applying insecticides
Show threadwildgingerNov 16, 2023
the comment is saying our research is only done on people directly applying the spray. As in, tests for safe levels of exposure.
Show threadassassin_aragornNov 16, 2023
Yeah unfortunately it doesn’t tell us if the level of exposure the everyday person gets is enough to be harmful
Show threadcannacheNov 16, 2023
Imagine if your sperm count spiked from insecticide exposure haha, what a plot twist that would be
Show threadwookiNov 17, 2023
Conflating baseless claims. Keep up the shitposting
Show threadPhlogistonNov 16, 2023
Even if this was ‘only’ an issue for the people that make all our food its an important issue and pesticide drift is a thing. so its also an issue for the people that live near where our food is made
Show threadassassin_aragornNov 16, 2023

Not necessarily. The level or concentration of it really matters.

Radiation is a good example of this. Standing next to a leaking nuclear reactor would be very, very bad for instance. But we also get hit with radiation everyday from naturally occuring sources. Radon is naturally in the air, and anything with carbon will have the teeniest amount of a radioactive carbon isotope too. Hell, even X rays with proper shielding still get you a dose. All of this background radiation though is benign. Everyday normal exposure isn’t harmful.

The question is how much we need to be exposed to for it to be harmful, and that’s the unanswered question about pesticides. Going back to radiation, being an X Ray technician is actually enough exposure to cause harm if you’re always in the room when it goes off. We didn’t realize this until they started showing notably higher rates of cancer. There’s also some mercury compounds that are so toxic, a researcher followed all the proper procedures and still died from exposure because it turned out the little amount that got through all the protection was still a fatal dose. We literally had no idea.

So are pesticides causing a sperm reduction? We have absolutely no idea. That doesn’t mean we can’t cut back on it anyway though.

Show threadExLisperNov 16, 2023
Who cares? Kids suck
Show threadmadeinthebackseatNov 16, 2023

It’s purely anecdotal, but go to a small town in Iowa and you may notice something a little unexpected - there’s seemingly a larger than normal population of gay and transgender people.

Again, anecdotal, but I visit there frequently for work. My gut tells me the crop treatments are screwing with hormones…unless there’s some other explanation.

Show threadSeaJNov 16, 2023
Sure thing, Alex.
Show threadwildgingerNov 16, 2023

People mock the gay frogs thing, but pesticide runoff was mucking with frog hormones, causing a genuine physical sex shift. Frogs are capable of shifting sex under specific conditions, and the chemical pollution was forcing the change. Huge ecological damage.

It was perhaps the single time alex jones was correct about anything, and if he hadnt called the frogs gay he probably wouldnt have been mocked for it.

Show threadEufalconimorphNov 16, 2023
It was making them trans, not gay.
Show threadqueermunist she/herNov 16, 2023

I honestly wonder if being exposed to xenoestrogens in the womb is why I’m trans.

I’m not unhappy about it, just something I think about!

Show threadEmpathicVagrantNov 16, 2023
They do that anyway if the population ratio is off by enough, but yeah they transitioned much more rapidly and more often. They also would excrete everything at once so currently male frogs would read another current male as a mate. Technically it was a grain of truth with zero nuance
Show threadGBU_28Nov 16, 2023
Proooobbbbably that those folks finally feel remotely safe being “out”
Show threadguckfoogleNov 16, 2023

I grew up in Iowa, and I live in a large Ohio city now. There are barely any LGBT folks in Iowa, even per capita, it’s just not normal or accepted there en mass. There was literally only one gay kid in my high school of 1500.

I move to Cleveland, then I meet more LGBT people than I have ever seen in my life, even having 4 lesbians in my workplace and one FTM.

But social media is probably the biggest driving factor behind the rise of so many LGBT people in the past decade.

Show threadisthingoneventhisNov 16, 2023
You mean there was only 1 kid who was “out”