Fwd: Male biological clock is ticking/River 'pollution' sparks fertility fears

[Guest guest]

Health and Healing ,

Misty

Fri, 28 Nov 2003 09:53:43 +1300

Male biological clock is ticking/River 'pollution'

sparks fertility

fears

 

Male biological clock is ticking

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2328909.stm

 

Sperm cells accumulate damage over time

 

The chances of a man having children dip past his 35th birthday, researchers

have found.

The researchers, from the University of Washington in Seattle, found that

damage to the genetic material containing sperm cells increases with age.

 

We found there is a significant change by the age of 35

 

 

 

Dr Narendra Singh

 

Unlike most other cells in the body, sperm cells are unable to repair this

damage.

 

In addition, the researchers found that as a man gets older he loses his

natural ability to weed out unhealthy sperm cells through a process known as

apoptosis.

 

This means that there is a greater chance that a damaged sperm cell will

successfully fertilise the female egg.

 

This could mean that the risk of miscarriage is increased or, at the other

end of the scale, that children have a greater chance of developing mild

abnormalities such as uneven teeth, or asymmetrical limbs.

 

Lead researcher Dr Narendra Singh told the BBC: " We found there is a

significant change by the age of 35. "

 

Sperm quality

 

Dr Singh's team examined sperm quality in 60 men aged between 22 and 60. All

had healthy sperm counts.

 

The researchers found that men aged 35 and older had higher concentrations

of sperm with broken strands of DNA, and that the damage was greater.

 

In general, older men's sperm was less active so they had less chance of

fertilising an egg.

 

A recent study found that male infertility was just as likely as female

infertility to prevent couples from having a family.

 

The proportion of British men aged over 40 becoming fathers increased by

half in the 1990s. In 1999 one in 10 children was born to a father aged over

40.

 

It is known that a healthy lifestyle can have a positive effect on male

fertility.

 

The findings are to be presented at a meeting of the American Society of

Reproductive Medicine in Seattle.

 

Society president William Keye said: " While there is nothing anyone can do

about getting older, men who want to retain their own best capacity to

father children should try to minimise contact with toxic agents and

maintain a healthy lifestyle. "

 

University of Washington's Dr Narendra Singh

" Damage to the sperm increases with age "

 

 

Internet links:

 

 

University of Washington at Seattle

American Society for Reproductive Medicine

 

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1877162.stm

River 'pollution' sparks fertility fears (I might add that soy has 10 times

more estrogen than other foods.N)

 

 

Chemical could be flushed via sewage works into rivers

 

Chemicals blamed for changing the sex of male fish could affect human

fertility, according to scientists in the UK.

A five-year study by the Environment Agency to be published later this month

suggests that half the male fish in lowland English rivers are developing

female characteristics because of pollution.

 

 

 

There are very real reasons to be worried about whether male reproductive

health could be affected in the same way

 

 

Dr Susan Jobling

Scientists blame the pollution on a " potent " form of oestrogen found in

urine from women using the contraceptive pill, which may be flushed through

sewage works and into rivers.

 

They fear the chemical could contaminate drinking water - one third of which

is taken from rivers.

 

The situation has been revealed in a joint investigation by the BBC's

Country File programme and the Independent on Sunday newspaper. But the

water industry and the Environment Agency strongly deny any threat to human

health and say no such chemicals have been found in drinking water.

 

'Exquisitely potent'

 

Sperm counts have been falling in Britain for the last 50 years.

 

 

A third of the male fish had no sperm or damaged sperm

 

The agency study, funded by the government, examined roach from 10 rivers

over the past five years and found " intersex " males in all of them.

 

Just under half of the male fish had developed eggs in their testes or

female reproductive ducts.

 

One tenth were sterile and another quarter were producing damaged sperm,

which appeared to be irreversible when put in clean water.

 

Previous studies showed a wide range of industrial chemicals were changing

the sex of the fish. But the latest research suggests that the main culprit

is a synthetic oestrogen called ethanol oestriadol, present in the

contraceptive pill.

 

Professor Charles Taylor, from Exeter University, who is working on new

technology for filtering water, warned the chemicals were " so exquisitely

potent " that even tiny amounts, such as one part per billion, could feminise

the fish.

 

" Some of the concentrations which we are seeing affecting fish are below the

detection limit which is presently in place for testing our drinking water.

 

" So we cannot be sure that some of the compounds, albeit at very low

concentrations, aren't getting into our drinking water. " Ten Rivers Tested

Lea in Herts

Blackwater in Essex

Arun in W Sussex

Avon in Bristol

Rea in Shropshire

Wreake in Leics

Nene in E Midlands

Ouse in N Yorks

Calder in W Yorks

Aire in W Yorks

The scientist who carried out the research, Dr Susan Jobling, from Brunel

University, said the research on fish should be taken as a warning to

humans.

 

She said: " The issue is not just about fish. Everything that we eat, put on

our skin, throw down the drain, ends up in the sewage treatment works and

ultimately in the river.

 

" So one could argue that we are actually living in a sea of oestrogen, a

chemical cocktail, and therefore I think there are very real reasons to be

worried about whether male reproductive health could also be affected in the

same way that fish reproductive health is affected. "

 

If that was the case, water companies could be forced to invest hundreds of

millions of pounds on new sewage works.

 

 

 

 

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