Two girls for every boy: chemicals messing with male-female ratio
You might want to paint the nursery pink ahead of time. We've already told you how so-called "gender-bender" chemicals in our water and food supply are suspected of causing problems like birth defects, cancer, and shrinking penises. Now, as if miniaturizing our manhoods weren't enough, these chemicals may be destined to eliminate the male gender altogether.
Scientists in Scandinavia have found that mothers in the Arctic parts of Russian, Canada, and Greenland are giving birth to twice as many girls as boys, and they're blaming it on the fact that the region is a "toxic sink" where dangerous chemicals accumulate faster than in other parts of the world. However, less sensitive regions are also vulnerable - researchers estimate that in Japan and the US s ome 250,000 fewer boys have been born than would have been expected had the male-to-female ratio circa 1970 been maintained.
The most likely suspects are a class of chemicals known as endocrine disruptors, which include the plastic softeners called phthalates found in products ranging from sex toys to baby bottles. The Scandinavian study found that mothers who have a traditional Inuit diet - which includes seal and bear meat with large concentrations of endocrine disruptors - are typically the ones giving birth to the most female children.
The implication that environmental chemicals can change the sex of children before birth is frightening in itself, but it may only be the tip of the iceberg in terms of what they're doing to the unborn as well as the born. Keep in mind that endocrine disruptors aren't going away, and even though you can reduce exposure through less use of plastic food containers etc, the stuff is well entrenched in our air, food and water. On the bright side, if we stop having boy babies altogether, that ought to solve our population problem in a generation or so.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-25-2008 @ 10:59PM
Femme Verve said...
It might be a very good thing. Less testosterone and high-level carriers might be the best thing for the planet. Sorry guys, but with so much war, savage capitalism, the blind rape of mother earth, maybe the environment is striking back. Women are certainly not exempt from blame but men, for many reasons (historic, political etc.), are way in the lead (and much of the leadership) of this continuing sad phenomenon.
...And size really does not matter... so it will be ok...really :-)
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