Plastics may have changed the way we live in many positive ways, but it's far from being "all good". It's everywhere, affecting our environment, other animals and ourselves in ways we're only just learning about. Many of us are now aware of the huge floating plastic garbage islands in the oceans. There are even micro plastics that get ingested by nonhuman and human animals alike.
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Even without consuming plastics, there are other threats that plastic pose due to the chemicals put into them. These include chemicals like BPA, which is found in so much, from DVDs to cash register receipts. BPA has is known to be an endocrine disruptor. What does that matter, you might ask?
Chemicals like BPA can affect the brain and nervous system's development growth and metabolism, as well as the reproductive system. This chemical has be shown to lower sperm quality, which lowers fertility. And most of us carry it in our bodies because it's so pervasive in our modern world. It's now in our landfills, waterways and oceans.
There are other plastic chemicals that are creating a sperm crisis. These include DEHP and polychlorinated biphenyl 153 (PCB153). Humanity is being changed because we are too foolish to see the consequences to our actions at the time, and just do and use anything so long as it has a benefit or makes money. This has resulted in a progressive lowering of sperm quality for the past 80 years, which has declined by 50% in that time.
A study in 2016 showed how our modern living has affected other animals, such as dogs. Domestic dogs has a decline in sperm quality as well. A new study published today, confirms this modern problem, titled "Independent and combined effects of diethylhexyl phthalate and polychlorinated biphenyl 153 on sperm quality in the human and dog".
Scientists looked at the two chemicals previously mentioned, DEHP and PCB153. DEHP is used to increase the plsaticity of a mertial (make it more like plastic, bending). PCB153 is now banned, but it was so widely used that it's still all around us, including in human and dog food.
To see what effects these chemicals could have on sperm, "researchers incubated sperm from human and dog donors with concentrations of the chemicals comparable to those found in the natural environment". The effect of these chemicals was twofold: 1) decreasing motility (movement), and 2) increasing damage to the DNA.
OK, so we didn't know about all the bad shit from using these chemicals in our "plastic revolution". I guess we had to learn the hard way with negative consequences. But now we do know. So, why are many of these chemicals still being used? Profit and convenience.
Companies want to keep using them, because hey, they make profit by producing plastics that have certain properties. And customers, well, we're going to keep buying them because we want those products. Yet, we, the consumers, hold the power to change what we're doing to ourselves. The companies don't care, they just watn the money. Why anre't we caring more?
Maybe it will take more negative consequences because we stop paying for these products that only harm ourselves in the long-term, although imperceptibly at first. At some point, we're going to see the problems more clearly, as it becomes harder and harder to keep the human species going, not to mention the effect on other animals. Will it be too late at that point? maybe eugenics science will save us with gene-edited babies... Welcome to the Brave New World of test tube babies.
Thank you for your time and attention. Peace.
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