‘Am I in a hellhole of toxins?’ ... Sperm count concerns specialists

[RedEarth]

Two years ago when fertility specialist Gil Wilshire came to Columbia from his practice in New Jersey, one detail jumped out at him. His male patients in Mid-Missouri were much less fertile than those he treated on the East Coast.

Nobody I saw had a normal sperm count," said Wilshire, a reproductive endocrinologist at Mid-Missouri Reproductive Medicine and Surgery Inc. "It took about two or three weeks until a normal semen analysis came through the door. I kept asking myself, ‘Am I in a hellhole of toxins?’ "

Danny Schust, another endocrinologist who arrived here from Harvard University in 2006, had an almost identical experience. He was accustomed to treating men with low sperm counts, but those he saw in Missouri all had low counts.

"I went to" an andrologist at the Missouri Center for Reproductive Medicine and Fertility. "And I said, ‘Are you guys doing something different here because I never see normal sperm counts?’ " Schust recalled. "And she was like, ‘No, this is Missouri sperm.’ "

Their stories are part of a chorus of local people who work in the field of male fertility asking questions about low sperm counts in Mid-Missouri. Some suspect pesticides have percolated into ground water, but no definitive link is known. They say they are frustrated by the lack of attention to the problem and the lack of funding for further research.

............

But one of the three pesticides that showed a significant association with low sperm counts also was found in 24 of the samples - an insecticide called diazinon, which is not regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency in drinking water. In 2004, diazinon was banned from residential use, though it is still lawfully used in some agriculture. Another herbicide used for weed control - metolachlor - showed up in 34 of the Missouri semen samples. It also is on the EPA’s list of candidates for designation as a contaminant.



http://www.columbiatribune.com/2008/Jun/20080615News002.asp

[MountainLaurel]

1. That's fascinating

"Children of Men" here we come.

[rudy23]

2. Maybe this is how we get more men into the environmental movement.

And hey--if sperm helped kick us out of the White House, maybe it can get us back in.

[KT2000]

3. Why do they act so alarmed?

pesticide companies have known for decades that some of their products cause low sperm counts. Their workers suffered almost universally from infertility problems. When they figured this out - they got to work and tried to develop their pesticides as birth control for men.

Pesticides and herbicides are in our fat tissue, blood, air, water, food. They are in our carpets, vacuum cleaner bags, brooms, cars - they are everywhere. it would be expected that farm country would have more pesticide residue than the east coast.

The saddest part of this story is that it is likely these physicians have been deriding those who have sounded the alarm on pesticides - for decades. It is the official position of the medical profession and most go along.

[safeinOhio]

4. My endocrinologist

told me all men need to stay away from anything that has soy in it.