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.
Being reported as sketchy information, but the basic premise of plastics being a synthetic estrogen is sound, at least as far as BPA is concerned:
https://www.breastcancer.org/risk/risk-factors/exposure-to-chemicals-in-plastic
"BPA is a weak synthetic estrogen found in many rigid plastic products, food and formula can linings, dental sealants, and on the shiny side of paper cashier receipts (to stabilize the ink). Its estrogen-like activity makes it a hormone disruptor, like many other chemicals in plastics. Hormone disruptors can affect how estrogen and other hormones act in the body, by blocking them or mimicking them, which throws off the body’s hormonal balance. Because estrogen can make hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer develop and grow, many women choose to limit their exposure to these chemicals that can act like estrogen.
BPA also seems to affect brain development in the womb. In 2011, a study found that pregnant women with high levels of BPA in their urine were more likely to have daughters who showed signs of hyperactivity, anxiety, and depression. The symptoms were seen in girls as young as 3. It’s not clear why boys aren’t affected in the same way."
It’s probably being reported for the transphobic idea that trans people are created by an environmental contaminant which has existed for thousands of years less than transgender people have.
Wouldn’t it be crazy if we’re all products of our environments, including our cultural environment, and if I never said all trans people, but said it “was linked to”.
…guess what, everyone’s gender and sexuality is “linked to” hormones, that’s just normal.
…like the sex of crocodiles is determined by the heat the egg is kept at, knowing that fact (and even altering the outcome) doesn’t make the sex of the baby crocodiles any less legitimate once they’re hatched. The environment is a factor in who we are, and saying so isn’t an attack. Just accept yourself, who ever you are.