The quality of Western men's sperm cells has deteriorated fast in recent decades. The cause? Pesticides. At least that's what Gert Dohle, urologist at the Erasmus MC hospital in the Netherlands, says. He is organizing a big convention in Rotterdam today where physicians gather to find a solution to this problem.
It's not tight underpants or wifi and other microwaves that are causing the spermatozoa a headache. Not even smoking or drinking are the main causes, according to Dohle. "Our tap water contains all sorts of pesticides, that suppliers of drinking water can't filter out. These substances amass in the fat tissue of pregnant women, ending up in the fetus through the placenta. As a result, the testicles' development is hampered."
While twenty years ago the average man still had 60 million sperm cells per milliliter, now that count is just 40 million. If that trend continues, there will only be 20 million twenty years from now, and that would substantially lower the chance of natural fertilization, Dohle says. Also, diseases like testicle cancer will become more common.
Or is it plastic?
But there's also room for a nuance. All sorts of plastic products contain so-called softeners, chemical substances that can be released upon heating. In packagings of microwave meals for instance, but also in drinking bottles for babies. These substances, called BPA, have already been banned in several countries, but not (yet) in the Netherlands.
Announcements
Job Offers
- Directors - New Zealand
- Nursery Production Manager Victoria Australia
- Technical Sales Consultant, Washington
- Export Sales Manager North America Exports
- Head Grower Hydroponic Greenhouse
- Account Manager – South-East Asia
- Vegetable Seed - EU Sales and Regional Manager
- Business Developer – High Tech Horticulture
- Operations Manager Organic Farm Barka Oman
- Bravo Sales and Administration Officer
"Tweeting Growers"
Top 5 -yesterday
Top 5 -last week
- Netherlands: Codema Systems Group declared bankrupt
- Codema bankrupt: "It seems that Codema has been hit harder than similar companies"
- "Automated real-time stress alerts from your plants increase yields"
- Picture time: Technical suppliers find their way to GreenTech Americas
- Lettuce cultivated in hydroponic system responds to less phosphorus inputs
Top 5 -last month
- "Honduras greenhouse park to become the largest producer-exporter in the Central American region"
- Netherlands: Codema Systems Group declared bankrupt
- Shanghai: Young people who can't get vegetables start to "help themselves" through hydroponic vegetables
- Canada: Dutch holding company acquires Ontario Plants Propagation
- UK faces tomato shortage amid rising energy costs
Receive the daily newsletter in your email for free | Click here
Other news in this sector:
- 2022-05-09 “TempU08 Disposable USB temperature data logger with LCD Screen is better at recording temperature changes during transport”
- 2022-05-06 Mom-approved snack boards for Mother’s Day
- 2022-05-04 Gideon launches Trey, the autonomous forklift for trailer loading and unloading
- 2022-05-03 Aurora: Our new circular array zigzag plant growth lamp improves energy efficiency by 25%
- 2022-04-28 Breaking down walls to introduce farming into existing buildings
- 2022-04-26 France: Innovations at Savéol
- 2022-04-19 Syngenta presents new colorful set of peppers
- 2022-04-19 Australia: Spinach recall issued over salmonella fears
- 2022-04-08 Amela wins the Fruit Logistica Innovation Award
- 2022-03-24 GrowArt: The market space for planting towers needs to be improved
- 2022-03-21 "We have introduced the Frigga 4G range of Real Time Data Loggers"
- 2022-03-14 Vertical Farms in containers - economic sustainability to be assessed before everything
- 2022-03-09 Malling Fruits reports big interest in everbearer strawberry
- 2022-03-04 What is the future of the Metaverse for indoor agriculture?
- 2022-02-24 “We present the TempU8B single-use USB temperature humidity data logger with higher accuracy"
- 2022-02-24 History of biological pollination in UK tomato crops
- 2022-02-22 New finance option allows growers to receive 96% of shipment’s value in 24 hours
- 2022-02-16 Syngenta's winter cherry tomato is 100% Sicilian
- 2022-02-14 Edible coating on snack cucumbers to meet rising demand for sustainability
- 2022-02-11 US greenhouse grower awarded for blueberry packaging
