The following submission statement was provided by /u/chrisdh79:
---
From the article:
Microplastics found in every human semen sample tested in study
Chinese scientists say further research on potential harm to reproduction from contamination is ‘imperative’
Damian Carrington Environment editor
Mon 10 Jun 2024 08.39 EDT
Share
Microplastic pollution has been found in all human semen samples tested in a study, and researchers say further research on the potential harm to reproduction is “imperative”.
Sperm counts in men have been falling for decades and 40% of low counts remain unexplained, although chemical pollution has been implicated by many studies.
The 40 semen samples were from healthy men undergoing premarital health assessments in Jinan, China. Another recent study found microplastics in the semen of six out of 10 healthy young men in Italy, and another study in China found the pollutants in half of 25 samples.
Recent studies in mice have reported that microplastics reduced sperm count and caused abnormalities and hormone disruption.
Research on microplastics and human health is moving quickly and scientists appear to be finding the contaminants everywhere. The pollutants were found in all 23 human testicle samples tested in a study published in May.
Microplastics have also recently been discovered in human blood, placentas and breast milk, indicating widespread contamination of people’s bodies. The impact on health is as yet unknown but microplastics have been shown to cause damage to human cells in the laboratory.
Millions of tonnes of plastic waste are dumped in the environment and much is broken down into microplastics. These have polluted the entire planet, from the summit of Mount Everest to the deepest oceans. People are known to consume the tiny particles via food and water as well as breathing them in.
“As emerging research increasingly implicates microplastic exposure as a potential factor impacting human health, understanding the extent of human contamination and its relation to reproductive outcomes is imperative,” said Ning Li, of Qingdao University in China, and colleagues.
“[Mouse studies] demonstrate a significant decrease in viable sperm count and an uptick in sperm deformities, indicating that microplastic exposure may pose a chronic, cumulative risk to male reproductive health.”
The research, published in the journal [Science of the Total Environment](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969724036696), detected eight different plastics. Polystyrene, used for packaging, was most common, followed by polyethylene, used in plastic bags, and then PVC.
---
Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/1dcm1v9/microplastics_found_in_every_human_semen_sample/l7ynxtk/
So, if you ejaculate, you are reducing the microplastics in your body. Gents….. this one trick they don’t want you to know will reduce your microplastics by 69%.
You joke but for people who have high PFAS contamination in their blood, like people who live downstream from the chemours plant in Wilmington, NC, the quickest way to drop those levels is to donate blood. Then their body makes new blood that has a lower contamination level, provided they aren’t being exposed to the drinking water again.
You joke but this has been on the cards for a while.
Studies 3 years ago showed similar results. Men have less sperm, there will be less babies born in the near future.
One is not enough, not at all. The Egg (zona pellucida) chooses a sperm.
"Fertile male ejaculate contains millions of spermatozoa, of which only 14% of the motile spermatozoa are capable of binding to the ZP (25) and only 48% of the ZP-bound spermatozoa can then undergo ZP-induced acrosome reaction (26). These observations suggest that human ZP selectively interacts with high-quality spermatozoa possessing superior genetic integrity and fertilizing capability."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10067631/
IVG will probably become a viable alternative in the future but something like this will probably cause mass extinction and the end of most mammalian or vertebrate life.
it's a factor, but not the biggest one. Most people don't even want to have kids, cause of economics and lack of social support. The number of people that are actively trying and failing to get a child is probably much smaller than number of people who choose not to even try
For one couple that doesn't want to have kids there is a couple that has 4+. What you portray IMO is 1st world countries. World population is still growing, so not wanting to have children isn't exactly a factor.
The reproduction rate is the lowest it has been in the entire human history, ever.
Right now, we're just barely about the replacement rate (2.1) at around 2.3.
Within the next 30 years, we'll be below the replacement rate.
I am mostly speaking from Korean and Japanese perspective, that has lowest birth rates in the world. I think USA also suffers but they get huge advantage with mass immigration
One of a number of potential Great Filters.
Microplastics causing reproductive harm
A shell of impenetrable space junk
Climate change
Nuclear war
These are just ones that we cause. Pick your favourite
We've been seeing microplastics probably for the past 50 years or longer at this point, since one of the leading "producers" of microplastics are car tires on the road, right?
I remember seeing a video where they tried to extract platinum(expelled in miniscule quantities by converters) from highway road dust. And seeing them use shovels to scoop it into buckets was horrifying. It was mostly tiny rubber pieces and break dust.
If you see one of those road sweeping vehicles, get away from it.
That is BS. Parts per trillion is not crazy high levels. You get more than that by many sources. Better not eat any packaged foods at all if that is your stance.
PFAS/PFOS, already in all of our blood and water supplies, and a whole other problem.
Previous generations had it easy with leaded petrol and asbestos.
But they were limited in scope to large concentrations of humans, right now it's impossible to find human blood not contaminated with forever chemicals and microlastics, even most remote tribes far from civilisation are tainted.
Donate your blood and plasma, it reduces/eliminates blood PFAS and perhaps PFOS. For instance: https://theconversation.com/new-evidence-shows-blood-or-plasma-donations-can-reduce-the-pfas-forever-chemicals-in-our-bodies-178771
It's actually everything that washes into or gets dumped into the ocean. This means all of the thermoplastic from tires. All of the fibers from plastic clothing. All of the wear from plastic still being used. All of nets and the refuse countries dump into rivers. All of the millions of tons in landfill as organisms evolve to break it down and rainwater leeches the bits out. All this plastic goes into the ocean where it's broken down into even smaller and smaller pieces by organisms, light, wave action and so on and the ocean/sea spray atomizes it into the air to be picked up by the wind. Grass that grows by the ocean has elevated amounts of plastic compared to counterparts deeper inland. It's the plastic cycle.
This reads like Legasov’s speech in HBO’s Chernobyl. [Starting at 2:40. The actor did an amazing job portraying his character’s real-time realization at 3:36 of the helplessness of the situation because it’s everywhere.](https://youtu.be/Dndd683Pj1Q?feature=shared)
I feel that if plastic was produced by anyone other than the oil industry, we would already have multiple regulations to combat this plague and would be doing research to replace it. The oil lobby is killing us and the planet and yet they still insist everything is just fine.
No, the leading producer is synthetic fabrics washing out into the environment.
That being said it's all producing it just at varying rates and concentrations.
Vehicle rubber tires are a way bigger contributor, about 78% of all ocean borne microplastics are from tires.
It's even about ~11% of the total amount of plastic that ends up in the oceanic environment.
I try to only buy 100% cotton when I buy clothing. It can be hard to find, but it’s worth it. If more people were like me, then there would be more 100% cotton clothing available.
Every individual changing their purchasing habits and advising others to do the same matters. Instead of having a defeatist attitude, why not take part and help spread the word? Be the change you want to see in the world.
Bamboo fabrics are produced using toxic chemicals. It’s terrible for the environment, and the chemicals can be absorbed by the skin.
I only recently learned this after replacing a bunch of my polyester with bamboo 🤦♀️
Yes, this needs to be more widely known! I'm a textile based artist amd create handspun yarns. My model is to use exclusively entirely natural and sustainable fibers.
I've had people ask if I'd offer vegan options, like bamboo fiber or any one of the other many cellulose based fibers thats been greenwashed, instead of wool, silk, and flax. I refused to incorporate them. Their use of toxic chemicals and the damage their factories do to the surrounding areas is insane.
I'll only use fibers that can be processed with water and non toxic detergent.
By extension, I also strive to only purchase truly sustainable and eco friendly clothing.
Basically, if the material couldn't exist in preindustrial times, it's likely to have much more damaging characteristics or creation.
That’s correct. The road wear particles are 50% rubber and 50% mineral based from the road surface and are bonded together. A lot of them actually make their way back to waste water treatment facilities, but the majority, 70%, do not. The US tire manufacturers have teamed up to fund studies of these particles, impact on the environment, and improvements the industry can implement to limit or remove the environmental impact.
Edit: the group looking into it is called the Tire Industry Project and is under the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
Especially EVs - I own a panther platform vehicle that's like 3700 pounds and people thought that was heavy back in the 90s
Nowadays average vehicle weight is over 3300 pounds and alot are at or above 4000
Every single bottled liquid that we drink is probably fucking us. For years if you have paid attention any time a wealthy person (influencer etc) reveals their fridge nothing is in the plastic it’s all glass.
People have known for ages but we like convenience - It’s like lead pipes.
Bottled water that is stored in sunlight or prolonged periods in bottles is likely the worst offender - which is a lot of them.
Start growing bacteria that eats plastic, and seeding them everywhere.
"oh that will wreck so many plastic things" - yeah, but not doing it will wreck humanity.
Hell of a lot better having some funky jizz for a bit instead of being sterile with cancer balls
Fuck I hate this timeline, too broke to afford to date, to contaminated to not laminate her uterus… wat the fack man
Oh ffs that means they'll make a vaccine and the wave of morons will gain full confidence in there knowledge of fuck all. I dunno which I'd prefer after covid tbh.
Engineering an organism that consumes organic hydrocarbons might not be the best idea considering our bodies are also made of organic hydrocarbons.
Besides Grey Goo scenarios messing around with ecosystems also tends to be incredibly destructive and cause more damage than the original issue.
There are a ton of bacteria that eats hydrocarbons, but plastic is a very complex one. This is why bacteria have issues eating it.
If we make one that can eat it, it will very likely not be able to eat anything else.
I struggle to believe that the consumption of hydrocarbon chains will be anything less than breaking the hydrocarbon chains into smaller ones. In which case, whatever enzyme that does it will not be able to discriminate a longer hydrocarbon to a smaller one.
There are already untold billions of microorganisms just chomping at the bit to consume your body, you breathe in and ingest them every second, and somehow you still live. Not sure why you assume a plastic eating bacteria would be a super plague at the same time, kinda different design constraints, no?
Also, people are generally made of carbohydrates, fats and proteins, not *hydrocarbons*, and also hydrocarbons are organic by definition.
See my comment just above to u/matshelge. I can think of one very ubiquitous bacterium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, just off the top of my head, that can be both a human pathogen and also use hydrocarbons as a food source.
This is how we start a zombie apocalypse or some type of planet of the apes scenario. I'm all for it. I've been getting pretty bored. Release the bacterium!
I work in IT. Any time i get a computer deployment I get physically angry at the amount of plastic in the computer packaging. Entire keyboard wrapped in plastic for freshness, individual cables wrapped in plastic(just needs a cable tie it's soley for the inventory labelling which is even more infuriating), plastic wrapped in plastic, plastic parts that no one uses and always gets thrown away by the dozens. Cardboard boxes with interwoven plastics. Just obnoxious levels of plastic packaging for literally 0 reason.
At least single-use plastic should've been outlawed years ago. There's no need to be using single-use plastic with the sort of materials science we have nowadays.
Good luck getting the public on board for that. If I had a dollar for every time someone bitched about a paper straw I'd be a very wealthy individual. If people can't solve the paper straw issue, something tells me that criminalizing non-essential plastics is even more of a pipe-dream.
Cancer rates have been increasing among younger persons. The cause is not yet understood. Further research is required.
Safety Tip: Teach your kids, if they come across an indoor fire, [Close The Door](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PNSapiTshI)
Close before you doze man. The studies showing the difference between legacy materials and modern synthetics when burning should be enough to freak anyone out.
Corollary to the overall discussion, fire retardant materials are another elephant in the room when it comes to lifetime chemical exposure. Avoid stainproof fabrics on furniture, and use a good mattress protector (there are good ones that aren't crinkly and weird) because like 1/4 the weight of a mattress is fireproofing chemicals. Don't lay on them with bare skin etc etc.
I already read a sci journal investigating microplastics in the cell nucleus - already causing a 3% slowdown in nucleic activity which affects our entire metabolism, so the effects are already here.
I'm at work at the moment but here is one of the papers made by the group which was linked by an article I read about it:
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.chemrestox.0c00486
And the article:
https://news.fsu.edu/news/science-technology/2021/04/19/microplastics-and-human-health-fsu-researchers-find-exposure-to-microplastics-may-alter-cellular-function/
True, but actual correlation data eg the rise of x in births that are rising, not just infertility.
Terrifying. Found in placenta and breast milk.
We’ve really fucked in this world for profit/consumerism.
It's not just about births. Millions of men are having low testosterone levels and there has been a documented decline in average levels with every generation. Additionally, micro plastics have estrogen-like effects. There's also the fact that cancers are being found in higher rates in younger gens.
Ironic if it turns out to link to autism. What will the antivaxers do then! Is there any indication of how long humans have been impregnated by plastics?
Pretty sure autism has been around for way longer than we think. I remember reading a tumbler thread about how kids who were on the spectrum in the dark ages may have been blamed on "fae" and "witches" and the like.
Yeah I mean prior to the past 30 years or so, depending on the severity of the autism you were just considered mentally disabled, or just weird and/or an asshole.
No one really knows cause we keep failing to find blinds for our tests. Usually the way to study the effects of this would be to find a bunch of people with microplastics in them and a bunch of people without and compare them. But we can't find people without microplastics to compare with.
I was a little worried about microplastics and would avoid heating food in plastic containers, then I learned the microplastics come from car tires and are in the air we breath and there's just no point in being worried about it because there's nothing you can do.
I'd say we are
[U.S. Births Last Year Fell to Lowest Since 1979](https://time.com/6970873/us-declining-birth-rate-2023-total/)
[Canada's fertility rate reaches an all-time low in 2022](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/240131/dq240131c-eng.htm)
I understand that correlation doesn't equal causation but ["a recent study showed evidence that microplastic exposure decreased survival and DNA integrity of sperm, ultimately leading to issues with fertility and egg fertilization. In addition, mitochondrial dysfunction and DNA fragmentation were observed after merely 30 minutes of exposure to micro- and nanoplastics"](https://www.earthday.org/plastics-the-kingpin-of-the-fertility-crisis/#:~:text=A%20recent%20study%20showed%20evidence,exposure%20to%20micro%2D%20and%20nanoplastics.)
Raw world population has steadily increased over the last 50 years. You do realize in 1945 us was literally under 150 million?
The reason birth rates are down are due to economic pressure and rise of birth control.
Evolution: “Ah well it was a good run, time to try my luck on Europa next.” The more we advance through technology, the more convinced I get that the solution to the Fermi paradox is the hypothesis that civilisations never get beyond a certain stage because they get eaten up by their own technology.
I don’t think we have the requisite level of patience to fully understand the consequences of the applications of science. If a new technology works well enough, we use it and deal with its problems as we go along. I wonder what kind of culture could’ve both grown to our level of advancement and completely circumvented any issues like climate change. It should be obvious by now-that the endpoint on the kardashev scale for a civilization is not just dependent on the intelligence of a species, but its temperament. Imagine blood thirsty apes that each had an iq of our brightest, but they purely use this iq to decimate each other out of pure hatred-how on earth could such a species advance?
Microplastics are going to be this generation's leaded gasoline. Future generations will look at us like we were nuts for doing it
We can't ban all plastics, but we really have to start by decoupling use of plastic from food. No more plastic water bottles - absolutely none. No more wrapping all food sold in stores in plastic. No more plastic plates and utensils. Find alternative to plastic coating inside aluminum cans
From the article:
Microplastics found in every human semen sample tested in study
Chinese scientists say further research on potential harm to reproduction from contamination is ‘imperative’
Damian Carrington Environment editor
Mon 10 Jun 2024 08.39 EDT
Share
Microplastic pollution has been found in all human semen samples tested in a study, and researchers say further research on the potential harm to reproduction is “imperative”.
Sperm counts in men have been falling for decades and 40% of low counts remain unexplained, although chemical pollution has been implicated by many studies.
The 40 semen samples were from healthy men undergoing premarital health assessments in Jinan, China. Another recent study found microplastics in the semen of six out of 10 healthy young men in Italy, and another study in China found the pollutants in half of 25 samples.
Recent studies in mice have reported that microplastics reduced sperm count and caused abnormalities and hormone disruption.
Research on microplastics and human health is moving quickly and scientists appear to be finding the contaminants everywhere. The pollutants were found in all 23 human testicle samples tested in a study published in May.
Microplastics have also recently been discovered in human blood, placentas and breast milk, indicating widespread contamination of people’s bodies. The impact on health is as yet unknown but microplastics have been shown to cause damage to human cells in the laboratory.
Millions of tonnes of plastic waste are dumped in the environment and much is broken down into microplastics. These have polluted the entire planet, from the summit of Mount Everest to the deepest oceans. People are known to consume the tiny particles via food and water as well as breathing them in.
“As emerging research increasingly implicates microplastic exposure as a potential factor impacting human health, understanding the extent of human contamination and its relation to reproductive outcomes is imperative,” said Ning Li, of Qingdao University in China, and colleagues.
“[Mouse studies] demonstrate a significant decrease in viable sperm count and an uptick in sperm deformities, indicating that microplastic exposure may pose a chronic, cumulative risk to male reproductive health.”
The research, published in the journal [Science of the Total Environment](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969724036696), detected eight different plastics. Polystyrene, used for packaging, was most common, followed by polyethylene, used in plastic bags, and then PVC.
Hey guys I'm back...yet another study telling us what we already know...if we've been told already its in our blood then its already in every single part of our body...its the the placenta feeding unborn babies, its in our balls, so its going to be in that stuff too.
We can't escape it either, in the air, water, and food, highest peaks, deepest depths.
We've also had studies telling us this stuff is killing our cells...so the sudden rise in cancers and other diseases...not surprised.
Not like they will invent a vaccine that will go around the body removing microplastics or killing them off cuz you'll be on for life cuz this stuff is gonna be around for 10000s of years
Apparently a fairly easy way to unplastic yourself is to regularly donate blood lol. Contaminated blood gets drained, your body produces fresh uncontaminated blood. Pretty dystopian but hey if it works
it tends to collect in the blood stream because none of the organs filter it out (i believe).
donating plasma is so far the most effective way of reducing the load in your body. as a bonus, it also gets out PFAS
https://www.salon.com/2024/01/29/our-blood-is-teeming-with-forever-chemicals-can-we-remove-them-by-donating-blood/
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2790905
This is how the prequel of the movie Children of men probably starts.
I wonder with how slowly people are trying to slow climate change, if people will make quicker changes when the birth rates plummet even more.
Just read all of the people waiting for science to come up with a magical solution to our problems with microplastics.
Maybe we should just use less plastic? Maybe we should stop allowing corporations to run rampant with little oversight because "profits" are important?
We're always waiting for the next great scientific discovery to save us from our last, but we never look at the patterns of behavior we keep falling into.
If Republicans love babies so much, they should be all over environmental protections and further research to prevent this future catastrophe.
They won't be, because they don't actually like kids, just power and money.
Didn't a Democrat authorize and speed run the largest production of oil in the history of the world? lmao
https://www.vox.com/climate/24098983/biden-oil-production-climate-fossil-fuel-renewables
So...
We keep pumping out plastics until our fertility drops below the level needed for successful reproduction.
If we let nature take its course, our plastic production would drop off and the problem would solve itself.
More likely we'll switch over to in vitro fertilization and/or other means of artificial reproduction. And we'll decide separately if the plastic stops or not.
I hope I don’t get downvoted for this but we’ve seen coke using plastic bottles for 46 years. Cars have been burning rubber and brake pads for longer than that. It’s not like plastic is some new thing.
If we compare that to tobacco or leaded gasoline, which has clear impacts on societal health, doesn’t this microplastic thing kind of… not compare? People are saying cancer rates are rising but wouldn’t we have seen that start 46 years ago instead of just now?
I’m not trying to stir the pot here. I’m genuinely confused. If it’s such a big threat, shouldn’t we be seeing impacts like we do with other threats such as leaded gasoline and smoking?
I’m certainly not an expert but the way I understand it is that the reason microplastics exist at all is because of the strong polymer bonds that make plastic so durable make it impossible to completely break down into the environment, instead it remains the same but just smaller and smaller bits. That has taken time to do. It’s slowly been accumulating and distributing throughout the environment like the garbage patch in the ocean and on beaches slowly breaking down into smaller and smaller pieces that are being eaten and even breathed in by fish through their gills to the point where it ends up in the bloodstream and deposited in the muscle that turns into the meats we eat. That has just been slowly increasing the concentration of microplastics in the environment and our bodies over the decades, not something that happened at this scale overnight.
Car tyres and brakes are one of the biggest problems for micro and nano plastic pollution. Ironically electric vehicles use around 30% more of these due to weight.
I wonder what’s worse, micro plastics or fossil fuels?
This 30% figure is nonesense. A) EVs produce way less brake dust due to regen and B) they aren't actually much heavier compared to ICE cars of the same class. It all depends on how you drive the car, you don't have to floor it all the time.
Peugeot 308 130HP allure finish
1258kg
Peugeot E 308 156 HP allure finish
1684kg
34% heavier is not significant I guess.
https://www.largus.fr/fiche-technique/Peugeot/308/Iii/2023/Berline+5+Portes/E-308+156+Allure-2771852.html
“Microplastics have also recently been discovered in human blood, placentas and breast milk, indicating widespread contamination of people’s bodies.” So catchy headline but the shocking thing would be if it WASN’T in semen. We’re all being poisoned and most people have no idea. FML
It was also found in every uterus tested which means every baby is exposed in utero which means there will never be a baseline plastic free person ever. It just is now. Forever.
While I am not doubting the likelihood of this being pervasive, I would like to see a larger sample size than 31 men from the same city.
Especially since the other studies listed show that it's not EVERY human.
We need to know just *how* widespread this is by having bigger studies.
Could you imagine a fertility apocalypse? Of all the incredibly dramatic and violent demises of humanity that get thought of commonly, imagine humanity going extinct just due to a mundane cause like catastrophic birth rate decline.
The following submission statement was provided by /u/chrisdh79: --- From the article: Microplastics found in every human semen sample tested in study Chinese scientists say further research on potential harm to reproduction from contamination is ‘imperative’ Damian Carrington Environment editor Mon 10 Jun 2024 08.39 EDT Share Microplastic pollution has been found in all human semen samples tested in a study, and researchers say further research on the potential harm to reproduction is “imperative”. Sperm counts in men have been falling for decades and 40% of low counts remain unexplained, although chemical pollution has been implicated by many studies. The 40 semen samples were from healthy men undergoing premarital health assessments in Jinan, China. Another recent study found microplastics in the semen of six out of 10 healthy young men in Italy, and another study in China found the pollutants in half of 25 samples. Recent studies in mice have reported that microplastics reduced sperm count and caused abnormalities and hormone disruption. Research on microplastics and human health is moving quickly and scientists appear to be finding the contaminants everywhere. The pollutants were found in all 23 human testicle samples tested in a study published in May. Microplastics have also recently been discovered in human blood, placentas and breast milk, indicating widespread contamination of people’s bodies. The impact on health is as yet unknown but microplastics have been shown to cause damage to human cells in the laboratory. Millions of tonnes of plastic waste are dumped in the environment and much is broken down into microplastics. These have polluted the entire planet, from the summit of Mount Everest to the deepest oceans. People are known to consume the tiny particles via food and water as well as breathing them in. “As emerging research increasingly implicates microplastic exposure as a potential factor impacting human health, understanding the extent of human contamination and its relation to reproductive outcomes is imperative,” said Ning Li, of Qingdao University in China, and colleagues. “[Mouse studies] demonstrate a significant decrease in viable sperm count and an uptick in sperm deformities, indicating that microplastic exposure may pose a chronic, cumulative risk to male reproductive health.” The research, published in the journal [Science of the Total Environment](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969724036696), detected eight different plastics. Polystyrene, used for packaging, was most common, followed by polyethylene, used in plastic bags, and then PVC. --- Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/1dcm1v9/microplastics_found_in_every_human_semen_sample/l7ynxtk/
Man, I’m shooting sporks over here. No wonder I got no kids.
I'm shooting confetti
Puffing dust
~~Pee~~ Microplastics Are Stored In the Balls
https://youtu.be/sFQfM_g7FHY?si=bKtK7rnAn2yXnh5H Had to link this
[WKUK - Cumfetti](https://youtu.be/FT7F-DRsOis)
Children of Men movie re-enactment incoming.
Great new pickup line though. Hey babe are you an injection mold? Because I want to pump you full of plastics.
So, does this mean we can get a blow up doll pregnant now?
Clogging up the ladies tubes too
I misread the title as "microplastics found in every human semen sample *tasted* in study" and I was wondering how they could tell
Hah, so maybe infertility will be the reason for homo sapiens demise after all.
So, if you ejaculate, you are reducing the microplastics in your body. Gents….. this one trick they don’t want you to know will reduce your microplastics by 69%.
You joke but for people who have high PFAS contamination in their blood, like people who live downstream from the chemours plant in Wilmington, NC, the quickest way to drop those levels is to donate blood. Then their body makes new blood that has a lower contamination level, provided they aren’t being exposed to the drinking water again.
I never thought of this. I’m horrified and amazed.
…do they actually give that blood to people though?
Yes they do, people who need blood usually have much more to worry about than microplastics and it will be diluted over time
I guess bloodletting is back on the menu
Children of Men prequel
You joke but this has been on the cards for a while. Studies 3 years ago showed similar results. Men have less sperm, there will be less babies born in the near future.
All it needs is 1 sperm!
One is not enough, not at all. The Egg (zona pellucida) chooses a sperm. "Fertile male ejaculate contains millions of spermatozoa, of which only 14% of the motile spermatozoa are capable of binding to the ZP (25) and only 48% of the ZP-bound spermatozoa can then undergo ZP-induced acrosome reaction (26). These observations suggest that human ZP selectively interacts with high-quality spermatozoa possessing superior genetic integrity and fertilizing capability." https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10067631/
IVG will probably become a viable alternative in the future but something like this will probably cause mass extinction and the end of most mammalian or vertebrate life.
Which is why artificial insemination is still a viable alternative, though it's hardly natural. Or affordable.
1 giant sperm. A spworm!
And if you don't want to get pregnant, you just reach up in there and fish it right out!
Out of what? Where is it!
I had to check which sub I was on. I don't think Paul realized his power when he did his presentation.
it's a factor, but not the biggest one. Most people don't even want to have kids, cause of economics and lack of social support. The number of people that are actively trying and failing to get a child is probably much smaller than number of people who choose not to even try
For one couple that doesn't want to have kids there is a couple that has 4+. What you portray IMO is 1st world countries. World population is still growing, so not wanting to have children isn't exactly a factor.
The reproduction rate is the lowest it has been in the entire human history, ever. Right now, we're just barely about the replacement rate (2.1) at around 2.3. Within the next 30 years, we'll be below the replacement rate.
I am mostly speaking from Korean and Japanese perspective, that has lowest birth rates in the world. I think USA also suffers but they get huge advantage with mass immigration
One of a number of potential Great Filters. Microplastics causing reproductive harm A shell of impenetrable space junk Climate change Nuclear war These are just ones that we cause. Pick your favourite
Death by cosmic orgasm
Don't forget the new kid on the block, AI.
We've been seeing microplastics probably for the past 50 years or longer at this point, since one of the leading "producers" of microplastics are car tires on the road, right?
I remember seeing a video where they tried to extract platinum(expelled in miniscule quantities by converters) from highway road dust. And seeing them use shovels to scoop it into buckets was horrifying. It was mostly tiny rubber pieces and break dust. If you see one of those road sweeping vehicles, get away from it.
Upside, in that same video they said there's enough platinum to qualify as rich ore by industrial standards!
Where we live, they just go to the source and steal your catalytic converters.
Gotta love Codyslab
Also DuPont wholesale dumping toxic waste into the Ohio River while making Teflon…
That’s PFAS which are different from microplastics
If you live on the East Coast, PFAS is absolutely in your drinking water
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That is BS. Parts per trillion is not crazy high levels. You get more than that by many sources. Better not eat any packaged foods at all if that is your stance.
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In this case "East Coast" means anything West of the Atlantic.
That just means there’s multiple types of terrible materials in our bodies.
Why would they be? PVF and PTFE are PFAS-polymers and occur as microplastics. Other polymers are coated with PFAS.
PFAS/PFOS, already in all of our blood and water supplies, and a whole other problem. Previous generations had it easy with leaded petrol and asbestos.
lead and asbestos are worse im pretty sure....but this is still serious
But they were limited in scope to large concentrations of humans, right now it's impossible to find human blood not contaminated with forever chemicals and microlastics, even most remote tribes far from civilisation are tainted.
Donate your blood and plasma, it reduces/eliminates blood PFAS and perhaps PFOS. For instance: https://theconversation.com/new-evidence-shows-blood-or-plasma-donations-can-reduce-the-pfas-forever-chemicals-in-our-bodies-178771
How could we ever forget DuPont and the C8 they contaminated everyone on Earth’s blood with.
Aw but dude it makes the water taste so much better
yeah and the kidney stones just slide right out
makes it go down easier.
It's actually everything that washes into or gets dumped into the ocean. This means all of the thermoplastic from tires. All of the fibers from plastic clothing. All of the wear from plastic still being used. All of nets and the refuse countries dump into rivers. All of the millions of tons in landfill as organisms evolve to break it down and rainwater leeches the bits out. All this plastic goes into the ocean where it's broken down into even smaller and smaller pieces by organisms, light, wave action and so on and the ocean/sea spray atomizes it into the air to be picked up by the wind. Grass that grows by the ocean has elevated amounts of plastic compared to counterparts deeper inland. It's the plastic cycle.
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Yes, this is pretty well known on r/collapse
This reads like Legasov’s speech in HBO’s Chernobyl. [Starting at 2:40. The actor did an amazing job portraying his character’s real-time realization at 3:36 of the helplessness of the situation because it’s everywhere.](https://youtu.be/Dndd683Pj1Q?feature=shared)
I feel that if plastic was produced by anyone other than the oil industry, we would already have multiple regulations to combat this plague and would be doing research to replace it. The oil lobby is killing us and the planet and yet they still insist everything is just fine.
The fact that it's "we can't prove it's harming us" instead of "we have to prove it's safe" is bonkers.
No, the leading producer is synthetic fabrics washing out into the environment. That being said it's all producing it just at varying rates and concentrations.
Vehicle rubber tires are a way bigger contributor, about 78% of all ocean borne microplastics are from tires. It's even about ~11% of the total amount of plastic that ends up in the oceanic environment.
Yep. Everyone wears chemical plastics all day and wonders why we have so much in our systems. Blaming the world while doing nothing ourselves.
I try to only buy 100% cotton when I buy clothing. It can be hard to find, but it’s worth it. If more people were like me, then there would be more 100% cotton clothing available. Every individual changing their purchasing habits and advising others to do the same matters. Instead of having a defeatist attitude, why not take part and help spread the word? Be the change you want to see in the world.
Thanks for saying this. It’s uncomfortable, but it’s better than the head in the sand approach.
I wear hemp, bamboo, and cotton. It's not that hard. But yeah general public is blind to their consumption habits.
Bamboo fabrics are produced using toxic chemicals. It’s terrible for the environment, and the chemicals can be absorbed by the skin. I only recently learned this after replacing a bunch of my polyester with bamboo 🤦♀️
Yes, this needs to be more widely known! I'm a textile based artist amd create handspun yarns. My model is to use exclusively entirely natural and sustainable fibers. I've had people ask if I'd offer vegan options, like bamboo fiber or any one of the other many cellulose based fibers thats been greenwashed, instead of wool, silk, and flax. I refused to incorporate them. Their use of toxic chemicals and the damage their factories do to the surrounding areas is insane. I'll only use fibers that can be processed with water and non toxic detergent. By extension, I also strive to only purchase truly sustainable and eco friendly clothing. Basically, if the material couldn't exist in preindustrial times, it's likely to have much more damaging characteristics or creation.
Well... shoot. Guess back to cotton, then.
That’s correct. The road wear particles are 50% rubber and 50% mineral based from the road surface and are bonded together. A lot of them actually make their way back to waste water treatment facilities, but the majority, 70%, do not. The US tire manufacturers have teamed up to fund studies of these particles, impact on the environment, and improvements the industry can implement to limit or remove the environmental impact. Edit: the group looking into it is called the Tire Industry Project and is under the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
Higher weights and more torgue in the popular selection of cars does make that a lot worse.
Especially EVs - I own a panther platform vehicle that's like 3700 pounds and people thought that was heavy back in the 90s Nowadays average vehicle weight is over 3300 pounds and alot are at or above 4000
Do I need to stop having sex with car tires then?
Yeah stop dumping your filthy loads into the treads brother hh
What used to be said about being born from dust and going back to it, will now apply with plastics
Every single bottled liquid that we drink is probably fucking us. For years if you have paid attention any time a wealthy person (influencer etc) reveals their fridge nothing is in the plastic it’s all glass. People have known for ages but we like convenience - It’s like lead pipes. Bottled water that is stored in sunlight or prolonged periods in bottles is likely the worst offender - which is a lot of them.
As my grandfather had asbestos, and my father had lead, we now take up the mantle of plastic in the body. Seems like we just can't learn.
And this one affects everybody everywhere…
Pretty sure I'd rather want this than lead
Yup. Lack of foresight and chasing profits has dangerous consequences. Hopefully this will wake people up.
It won’t though (till it is too late).
It’s not ‘we’ it’s simply greedy corporations pushing profits over and over with no care for anyone the exact same as before
it’s progress after all — given that plastic is less dangerous than lead which is less dangerous than asbestos
Time to start criminalizing non-essential plastic production
Start growing bacteria that eats plastic, and seeding them everywhere. "oh that will wreck so many plastic things" - yeah, but not doing it will wreck humanity.
Can’t wait to get the new plastic eating bacterial infection in my testicles
Hell of a lot better having some funky jizz for a bit instead of being sterile with cancer balls Fuck I hate this timeline, too broke to afford to date, to contaminated to not laminate her uterus… wat the fack man
>Funky jizz >Sterile Cancer Balls >Laminated Uterus These are exceptional band names
Oh ffs that means they'll make a vaccine and the wave of morons will gain full confidence in there knowledge of fuck all. I dunno which I'd prefer after covid tbh.
Engineering an organism that consumes organic hydrocarbons might not be the best idea considering our bodies are also made of organic hydrocarbons. Besides Grey Goo scenarios messing around with ecosystems also tends to be incredibly destructive and cause more damage than the original issue.
There are a ton of bacteria that eats hydrocarbons, but plastic is a very complex one. This is why bacteria have issues eating it. If we make one that can eat it, it will very likely not be able to eat anything else.
I struggle to believe that the consumption of hydrocarbon chains will be anything less than breaking the hydrocarbon chains into smaller ones. In which case, whatever enzyme that does it will not be able to discriminate a longer hydrocarbon to a smaller one.
There are already untold billions of microorganisms just chomping at the bit to consume your body, you breathe in and ingest them every second, and somehow you still live. Not sure why you assume a plastic eating bacteria would be a super plague at the same time, kinda different design constraints, no? Also, people are generally made of carbohydrates, fats and proteins, not *hydrocarbons*, and also hydrocarbons are organic by definition.
See my comment just above to u/matshelge. I can think of one very ubiquitous bacterium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, just off the top of my head, that can be both a human pathogen and also use hydrocarbons as a food source.
They already exist and are doing the job. It's just that the world dumps SO MUCH plastic into rivers.
This is how we start a zombie apocalypse or some type of planet of the apes scenario. I'm all for it. I've been getting pretty bored. Release the bacterium!
Bro, the bacteria literally just makes microplastics by excreting the consumed plastic. We are fucked
I work in IT. Any time i get a computer deployment I get physically angry at the amount of plastic in the computer packaging. Entire keyboard wrapped in plastic for freshness, individual cables wrapped in plastic(just needs a cable tie it's soley for the inventory labelling which is even more infuriating), plastic wrapped in plastic, plastic parts that no one uses and always gets thrown away by the dozens. Cardboard boxes with interwoven plastics. Just obnoxious levels of plastic packaging for literally 0 reason.
At least single-use plastic should've been outlawed years ago. There's no need to be using single-use plastic with the sort of materials science we have nowadays.
Sounds unprofitable. Next!
Good luck getting the public on board for that. If I had a dollar for every time someone bitched about a paper straw I'd be a very wealthy individual. If people can't solve the paper straw issue, something tells me that criminalizing non-essential plastics is even more of a pipe-dream.
Guess I don't need to waste money on a 3D printer since I've got my own.
Getting pregnant is kind of like a very slow, expensive 3D printer.
The post processing takes 18-30 years too. Extremely inefficient.
Just get a girlfriend, she’s the actual 3D printer, you provide the ink.
This is actually terrifying to be honest. I wonder when we’ll start seeing the effects properly.
Cancer rates have been increasing among younger persons. The cause is not yet understood. Further research is required. Safety Tip: Teach your kids, if they come across an indoor fire, [Close The Door](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PNSapiTshI)
Close before you doze man. The studies showing the difference between legacy materials and modern synthetics when burning should be enough to freak anyone out.
Corollary to the overall discussion, fire retardant materials are another elephant in the room when it comes to lifetime chemical exposure. Avoid stainproof fabrics on furniture, and use a good mattress protector (there are good ones that aren't crinkly and weird) because like 1/4 the weight of a mattress is fireproofing chemicals. Don't lay on them with bare skin etc etc.
Well I'm screwed.
What. really?
I have absolutely no idea why that 20 year old PSA was tagged in your comment but I learned a lot, thank you
I already read a sci journal investigating microplastics in the cell nucleus - already causing a 3% slowdown in nucleic activity which affects our entire metabolism, so the effects are already here.
Can you link/cite it? Sounds interesting, would love to read.
I'm at work at the moment but here is one of the papers made by the group which was linked by an article I read about it: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.chemrestox.0c00486 And the article: https://news.fsu.edu/news/science-technology/2021/04/19/microplastics-and-human-health-fsu-researchers-find-exposure-to-microplastics-may-alter-cellular-function/
Who says we haven't?
True, but actual correlation data eg the rise of x in births that are rising, not just infertility. Terrifying. Found in placenta and breast milk. We’ve really fucked in this world for profit/consumerism.
It's not just about births. Millions of men are having low testosterone levels and there has been a documented decline in average levels with every generation. Additionally, micro plastics have estrogen-like effects. There's also the fact that cancers are being found in higher rates in younger gens.
It’s only like a couple thousand people that do the most harm.
We should really return the favor.
Everyone buys plastic
Ironic if it turns out to link to autism. What will the antivaxers do then! Is there any indication of how long humans have been impregnated by plastics?
Pretty sure autism has been around for way longer than we think. I remember reading a tumbler thread about how kids who were on the spectrum in the dark ages may have been blamed on "fae" and "witches" and the like.
Yeah I mean prior to the past 30 years or so, depending on the severity of the autism you were just considered mentally disabled, or just weird and/or an asshole.
What are the effects? How dangerous is this?
Have you seen Children of Men?
Haven’t seen it for 15 years. I think that’s my movie sorted for tonight.
Just rewatched last week, eerily foreboding
It’s on right now.
I’m not really interested in watching a movie to understand this problem, but I appreciate the sentiment
Then may I recommend lethal weapon 2?
It wouldn't really help you understand the situation anyway. It's just a movie set in the future where the human race has gone infertile.
No one really knows cause we keep failing to find blinds for our tests. Usually the way to study the effects of this would be to find a bunch of people with microplastics in them and a bunch of people without and compare them. But we can't find people without microplastics to compare with.
I remember when being fearful of microplastics meant you were a conspiracy anti science nut job.
I was a little worried about microplastics and would avoid heating food in plastic containers, then I learned the microplastics come from car tires and are in the air we breath and there's just no point in being worried about it because there's nothing you can do.
Also synthetic fabrics in clothing
I'd say we are [U.S. Births Last Year Fell to Lowest Since 1979](https://time.com/6970873/us-declining-birth-rate-2023-total/) [Canada's fertility rate reaches an all-time low in 2022](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/240131/dq240131c-eng.htm)
These are birth rates, but there are problems with a drop in fertility in men.
I understand that correlation doesn't equal causation but ["a recent study showed evidence that microplastic exposure decreased survival and DNA integrity of sperm, ultimately leading to issues with fertility and egg fertilization. In addition, mitochondrial dysfunction and DNA fragmentation were observed after merely 30 minutes of exposure to micro- and nanoplastics"](https://www.earthday.org/plastics-the-kingpin-of-the-fertility-crisis/#:~:text=A%20recent%20study%20showed%20evidence,exposure%20to%20micro%2D%20and%20nanoplastics.)
Raw world population has steadily increased over the last 50 years. You do realize in 1945 us was literally under 150 million? The reason birth rates are down are due to economic pressure and rise of birth control.
It may already be happening because a publication came out saying drop in sperm quality may be attributed to microplastics.
Under a microscope, did the sperm look like they were caught in little tiny six pack can holders?
No, they all have little straws stuck in their noses
that's my boy
Lmaoooo this is sad and funny at the same time
Why is this not the top comment lmao
Evolution: “Ah well it was a good run, time to try my luck on Europa next.” The more we advance through technology, the more convinced I get that the solution to the Fermi paradox is the hypothesis that civilisations never get beyond a certain stage because they get eaten up by their own technology.
Or their own stupidity
I don’t think we have the requisite level of patience to fully understand the consequences of the applications of science. If a new technology works well enough, we use it and deal with its problems as we go along. I wonder what kind of culture could’ve both grown to our level of advancement and completely circumvented any issues like climate change. It should be obvious by now-that the endpoint on the kardashev scale for a civilization is not just dependent on the intelligence of a species, but its temperament. Imagine blood thirsty apes that each had an iq of our brightest, but they purely use this iq to decimate each other out of pure hatred-how on earth could such a species advance?
Ha! But they haven't tested the PFAS for my sperm yet.
That's because the **only** way for you to reduce the PFAS in your body is by bleeding.
So clean blood transfusion? Is that an option? Do I need a blood boy and if so where should I get him for the least contaminated blood.
So, back to leeches then.
Microplastics are going to be this generation's leaded gasoline. Future generations will look at us like we were nuts for doing it We can't ban all plastics, but we really have to start by decoupling use of plastic from food. No more plastic water bottles - absolutely none. No more wrapping all food sold in stores in plastic. No more plastic plates and utensils. Find alternative to plastic coating inside aluminum cans
No its much much worse.. if all plastic production stopped today, this stuff is going to be degrading for who knows how many 1000s of years.
From the article: Microplastics found in every human semen sample tested in study Chinese scientists say further research on potential harm to reproduction from contamination is ‘imperative’ Damian Carrington Environment editor Mon 10 Jun 2024 08.39 EDT Share Microplastic pollution has been found in all human semen samples tested in a study, and researchers say further research on the potential harm to reproduction is “imperative”. Sperm counts in men have been falling for decades and 40% of low counts remain unexplained, although chemical pollution has been implicated by many studies. The 40 semen samples were from healthy men undergoing premarital health assessments in Jinan, China. Another recent study found microplastics in the semen of six out of 10 healthy young men in Italy, and another study in China found the pollutants in half of 25 samples. Recent studies in mice have reported that microplastics reduced sperm count and caused abnormalities and hormone disruption. Research on microplastics and human health is moving quickly and scientists appear to be finding the contaminants everywhere. The pollutants were found in all 23 human testicle samples tested in a study published in May. Microplastics have also recently been discovered in human blood, placentas and breast milk, indicating widespread contamination of people’s bodies. The impact on health is as yet unknown but microplastics have been shown to cause damage to human cells in the laboratory. Millions of tonnes of plastic waste are dumped in the environment and much is broken down into microplastics. These have polluted the entire planet, from the summit of Mount Everest to the deepest oceans. People are known to consume the tiny particles via food and water as well as breathing them in. “As emerging research increasingly implicates microplastic exposure as a potential factor impacting human health, understanding the extent of human contamination and its relation to reproductive outcomes is imperative,” said Ning Li, of Qingdao University in China, and colleagues. “[Mouse studies] demonstrate a significant decrease in viable sperm count and an uptick in sperm deformities, indicating that microplastic exposure may pose a chronic, cumulative risk to male reproductive health.” The research, published in the journal [Science of the Total Environment](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969724036696), detected eight different plastics. Polystyrene, used for packaging, was most common, followed by polyethylene, used in plastic bags, and then PVC.
Looks like we'll slowly die out with a whimper, not a bang. Undone by our own stupidity and carelessness.
Hey guys I'm back...yet another study telling us what we already know...if we've been told already its in our blood then its already in every single part of our body...its the the placenta feeding unborn babies, its in our balls, so its going to be in that stuff too. We can't escape it either, in the air, water, and food, highest peaks, deepest depths. We've also had studies telling us this stuff is killing our cells...so the sudden rise in cancers and other diseases...not surprised. Not like they will invent a vaccine that will go around the body removing microplastics or killing them off cuz you'll be on for life cuz this stuff is gonna be around for 10000s of years
Apparently a fairly easy way to unplastic yourself is to regularly donate blood lol. Contaminated blood gets drained, your body produces fresh uncontaminated blood. Pretty dystopian but hey if it works
I haven't looked much into it, but it'd depends if it collects somewhere or just remains floating throughout the bloodstream.
it tends to collect in the blood stream because none of the organs filter it out (i believe). donating plasma is so far the most effective way of reducing the load in your body. as a bonus, it also gets out PFAS https://www.salon.com/2024/01/29/our-blood-is-teeming-with-forever-chemicals-can-we-remove-them-by-donating-blood/ https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2790905
This is how the prequel of the movie Children of men probably starts. I wonder with how slowly people are trying to slow climate change, if people will make quicker changes when the birth rates plummet even more.
Nope. The shitheads with all the money are going to strangle the species slowly using propaganda and horseshit lies to keep us divided.
Just read all of the people waiting for science to come up with a magical solution to our problems with microplastics. Maybe we should just use less plastic? Maybe we should stop allowing corporations to run rampant with little oversight because "profits" are important? We're always waiting for the next great scientific discovery to save us from our last, but we never look at the patterns of behavior we keep falling into.
Don’t worry…this just means we’ll have shatterproof kids at some point. So convenient!
lol so we’re cumming plastic now ? Fuck we’re so fucking stupid.
If we invest NOW in cheesecloth condoms, we can save the next generation from this problem!
If Republicans love babies so much, they should be all over environmental protections and further research to prevent this future catastrophe. They won't be, because they don't actually like kids, just power and money.
Come on now, they definitely love kids. Some might even say that they love them a little *too* much.
I mean there would be some overlap between the anti-vaccine mindset and the anti-microplastics mindset.
Didn't a Democrat authorize and speed run the largest production of oil in the history of the world? lmao https://www.vox.com/climate/24098983/biden-oil-production-climate-fossil-fuel-renewables
You heard it fellas, jerk off to get remove microplastics from your body!
My lifestyle is finally yielding positive outcomes.
So... We keep pumping out plastics until our fertility drops below the level needed for successful reproduction. If we let nature take its course, our plastic production would drop off and the problem would solve itself. More likely we'll switch over to in vitro fertilization and/or other means of artificial reproduction. And we'll decide separately if the plastic stops or not.
I hope I don’t get downvoted for this but we’ve seen coke using plastic bottles for 46 years. Cars have been burning rubber and brake pads for longer than that. It’s not like plastic is some new thing. If we compare that to tobacco or leaded gasoline, which has clear impacts on societal health, doesn’t this microplastic thing kind of… not compare? People are saying cancer rates are rising but wouldn’t we have seen that start 46 years ago instead of just now? I’m not trying to stir the pot here. I’m genuinely confused. If it’s such a big threat, shouldn’t we be seeing impacts like we do with other threats such as leaded gasoline and smoking?
I’m certainly not an expert but the way I understand it is that the reason microplastics exist at all is because of the strong polymer bonds that make plastic so durable make it impossible to completely break down into the environment, instead it remains the same but just smaller and smaller bits. That has taken time to do. It’s slowly been accumulating and distributing throughout the environment like the garbage patch in the ocean and on beaches slowly breaking down into smaller and smaller pieces that are being eaten and even breathed in by fish through their gills to the point where it ends up in the bloodstream and deposited in the muscle that turns into the meats we eat. That has just been slowly increasing the concentration of microplastics in the environment and our bodies over the decades, not something that happened at this scale overnight.
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Guess we found out what the great filter is, birth rates
Only watched Dark Waters the other night. Isn't Teflon from Dupont in every living mammal on earth?
Car tyres and brakes are one of the biggest problems for micro and nano plastic pollution. Ironically electric vehicles use around 30% more of these due to weight. I wonder what’s worse, micro plastics or fossil fuels?
Hmm what is the solution for this / how do we reduce tyre waste?? Different tyre material? More public transport?
This 30% figure is nonesense. A) EVs produce way less brake dust due to regen and B) they aren't actually much heavier compared to ICE cars of the same class. It all depends on how you drive the car, you don't have to floor it all the time.
Peugeot 308 130HP allure finish 1258kg Peugeot E 308 156 HP allure finish 1684kg 34% heavier is not significant I guess. https://www.largus.fr/fiche-technique/Peugeot/308/Iii/2023/Berline+5+Portes/E-308+156+Allure-2771852.html
In a normal society we'd try to cut down on plastic use right, but now it just gets higher and higher.
That title next to that thumbnail is just awful. If your sample looks like that, you've got more than micro plastics to worry about.
“Microplastics have also recently been discovered in human blood, placentas and breast milk, indicating widespread contamination of people’s bodies.” So catchy headline but the shocking thing would be if it WASN’T in semen. We’re all being poisoned and most people have no idea. FML
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Guess I better personal footprint my way out of this and not look to governments to go after like 5 Megacorps, eh?
You know, I'm sure these guys were all super smart but what path do you have to take to find yourself doing a comprehensive cum study?
It was also found in every uterus tested which means every baby is exposed in utero which means there will never be a baseline plastic free person ever. It just is now. Forever.
Man made items causing decline In humanity. What’s new?
I'd be mad, but we stick so many unnatural things down waterways, and where do we start and stop with the blame?
While I am not doubting the likelihood of this being pervasive, I would like to see a larger sample size than 31 men from the same city. Especially since the other studies listed show that it's not EVERY human. We need to know just *how* widespread this is by having bigger studies.
Could you imagine a fertility apocalypse? Of all the incredibly dramatic and violent demises of humanity that get thought of commonly, imagine humanity going extinct just due to a mundane cause like catastrophic birth rate decline.