Pollutant affects sex chromosome (BBC News)

[Up2Late]

(I hope China doesn't hear this and then, starts polluting more)

Pollutant affects sex chromosome

An environmental pollutant can change the ratio of sperm carrying male and female chromosomes, a study says.

Wednesday, 27 April, 2005, 23:05 GMT 00:05 UK

A baby's sex is determined by X and Y chromosomes in the sperm. Researchers found exposure to a class of pollutants which are a by-product of industrial and agricultural processes increased the Y chromosome sperms. But the team from Lund University in Sweden, which studied 149 fishermen, were unable to predict if the effect would lead to more boys being born.

Lead researcher Professor Aleksander Giwercman said a larger population sample would be needed to confirm that. But he added: "We think the fact that exposure to environmentally derived chemicals can change the sex chromosome ratio in sperm is worrying in itself and requires more attention from scientists and the public."

The researchers analysed the effect of exposure to two persistent organochlorine pollutants - DDE and CB-153 - which is most likely to come from eating fatty fish such as salmon. The 20% of men with the highest exposure to DDE compared with the 20% with the lowest exposure had 1.6% more sperm with the Y chromosome, the Human Reproduction journal reported. For CB-153 there was a 0.8% increase.

Dr Allan Pacey, a specialist in male fertility at the University of Sheffield and secretary of the British Fertility Society, said: "It is the first time I have heard of pollutants having this effect. "If this is so it is possible others could have a similar impact and that could have huge consequences." A second study has also suggested environmental factors can have an effect on male reproductive health.

(more at link above)

[KT2000]

1. This human experiment

of dumping 75,000 chemicals into our air water and food will certainly yield many results that will change the nature of humankind and earth.
Rachel Carson warned us about the sex hormone problems 25 years ago but she was attacked for that.
thanks for posting this

environment = public health

[GaYellowDawg]

2. Dr. Allan Pacey...

...needs to read the literature more. I attended a seminar at least 10 years ago at MTSU that involved this same topic. Not only do these pesticides affect chromosome ratios, they also can disrupt male determinance factors that affect testicular development.

[Shallah Kali]

3. I thought it was already well known that chemcials are screwing us up

a host of chemicals are suspected of effecting cancers in particular breast cancer because they act like estrogen in the body. I also seem to recall that there is an increase in men developing breasts not to mention they themselves not developing as much as previous generations....

[Boomer]

4. A little behind?

Just this last year there have been studies showing that chemicals that mimic hormones and excreted hormones in waste water are changing the sex ratio of fish downstream from sewage plants. Higher incidence of females to males, and alarming numbers of sexually ambiguous fish.

[ecoalex]

5. Estrogenic chemicals, early puberty , no surprise

Many herbicides work on a hormonal basis, and their residues in our water and food is how they are ingested.Also some common chemicals contain synthetic estrogenic compounds. It is said the earlier onset of puberty is a direct result of this pollution.

[DulceDecorum]

6. First, the sperm counts drop

and then the whole thing gets shot to hell.

[olddad56]

7. Interesting study. Might help explain why so many more boys...

than girls suffer from ADHD and some of the other autistic spectrum disorders. Many believe that pollution is playing a role in the extreme increase in these disorders. Sort of like putting two and two together. Just my opinion.

[Boomer]

8. That's not surprising either

>>...so many more boys...than girls suffer from ADHD and some of the other autistic spectrum disorders <<

The Y chromosome is fragile, which leaves males vulnerable to genetic disorders, whereas females have a built-in redundancy with the XX pairing.

Looks like boys are going to the canaries in the mine for Homo sapiens.