Sperm count fall could be due to microplastics, new study finds

MicroWave@lemmy.world to World News@lemmy.world – 321 points – Low sperm count could be due to microplastics, new study finds
euronews.com

The tiny plastic particles were found in all 23 human testes in a new study, and all 47 testes from pet dogs.

Microplastics have crossed so many boundaries it is hard to keep track.

The ‘red flag’ of our consumptive lifestyles, they have reached the limits of the Earth - from the Mariana Trench to the tip of Mount Everest. These tiny particles of decomposed plastic have seeped into clouds, and been found buried in archaeological remains believed to be ‘pristine’.

They have challenged our ideas of bodily inviolability too, infiltrating every organ. What might have been considered the ‘purest’ parts of human life - placentas, babies, breast milk - contain microplastics.

So it comes as little surprise that human testicles have them too, as the most comprehensive study yet on microplastics and the scrotum confirms.

Less is known about what microplastics are doing to our bodies. But in the case of testicles, the new research suggests they could be lowering sperm count.

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The Guardian's story on this has more of the important details

The human testicles had been preserved and so their sperm count could not be measured. However, the sperm count in the dogs’ testes could be assessed and was lower in samples with higher contamination with PVC. The study demonstrates a correlation but further research is needed to prove microplastics cause sperm counts to fall.

The testes analysed were obtained from postmortems in 2016, with the men ranging in age from 16 to 88 when they died. “The impact on the younger generation might be more concerning” now that there is more plastic than ever in the environment, Yu said.

The study, published in the journal Toxicological Sciences, involved dissolving the tissue samples and then analysing the plastic that remained. The dogs’ testes were obtained from veterinary practices that conducted neutering operations.

The human testicles had a plastic concentration almost three times higher than that found in the dog testes: 330 micrograms per gram of tissue compared with 123 micrograms. Polyethylene, used in plastic bags and bottles, was the most common microplastic found, followed by PVC.

330 micrograms per gram

That seems like... a lot. Way more than I expected or am comfortable thinking about.

Just to clarify, 1 microgram is 0.001 milligrams, so 330 micrograms are 0.33 milligrams and 1 gram is made out of 1000 milligrams.