Falling sperm count “threatens human survival”, warns the expert

The drop in sperm count and changes in sexual development are “threatening human survival” and leading to a fertility crisis, warned a leading epidemiologist.

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Writing in a new book, Shanna Swan, an environmental and reproductive epidemiologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, warns that the impending fertility crisis represents a global threat comparable to the climate crisis.

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“The current state of reproductive affairs cannot continue much longer without threatening human survival,” she writes in Count Down.

It came after a study she co-authored in 2017 found that sperm count in the west dropped 59% between 1973 and 2011, making headlines worldwide.

Now, says Swan, following the current projections, the average sperm count is expected to reach zero by 2045. “This is a little worrying, to say the least,” she told Axios.

In the book, Swan and co-author Stacey Colino explore how modern life is threatening sperm count, changing male and female reproductive development and putting human life at risk.

He points to lifestyle and exposure to chemicals that are changing and threatening human sexual development and fertility. Such is the seriousness of the threats they pose, she argues, that humans can become an endangered species.

“Of the five possible criteria for what makes a species threatened,” wrote Swan, “only one needs to be met; the current state of affairs for humans brings together at least three. “

Swan offers advice on how to protect yourself from harmful chemicals and urges people to “do what we can to protect our fertility, the fate of humanity and the planet”.

Between 1964 and 2018, the overall fertility rate dropped from 5.06 births per woman to 2.4. Now, about half of the countries in the world have fertility rates below 2.1, the population’s replacement level.

Although contraception, cultural changes and the cost of having children are likely to be contributing factors, Swan warns of indicators that suggest there are also biological reasons – including increased abortion rates, more genital anomalies among boys and precocious puberty for girls .

© Photo: Burazin / Getty Images
Swan offers advice on how to protect yourself from harmful chemicals and urges people to ‘do what we can to protect our fertility, the fate of humanity and the planet’.

Swan blames “chemicals everywhere,” found in plastics, cosmetics and pesticides, that affect endocrine systems, such as phthalates and bisphenol-A.

“Chemicals in our environment and unhealthy lifestyle practices in our modern world are upsetting our hormonal balance, causing varying degrees of reproductive destruction,” she writes.

She also said that factors like smoking, marijuana and growing obesity play a role.