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The Disappearing Male

Sunday February 14, 2010 at 3 pm on CBC-TV

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The Disappearing Male

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43:43 min

 

"We are conducting a vast toxicological experiment in which our children and our children's children are the experimental subjects." Dr. Herbert Needleman

The Disappearing Male is about one of the most important, and least publicized, issues facing the human species: the toxic threat to the male reproductive system.

The last few decades have seen steady and dramatic increases in the incidence of boys and young men suffering from genital deformities, low sperm count, sperm abnormalities and testicular cancer.

baby Some researchers say that declining male fertility rates could be the first sign of extinction.

At the same time, boys are now far more at risk of suffering from ADHD, autism, Tourette's syndrome, cerebral palsy, and dyslexia.

The Disappearing Male takes a close and disturbing look at what many doctors and researchers now suspect are responsible for many of these problems: a class of common chemicals that are ubiquitous in our world.

Found in everything from shampoo, sunglasses, meat and dairy products, carpet, cosmetics and baby bottles, they are called "hormone mimicking" or "endocrine disrupting" chemicals and they may be starting to damage the most basic building blocks of human development.

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Facts about Male Infertility

  • Sperm counts have been cut in half in the last fifty years - and 85% of that is abnormal.
  • In the last few decades there has been a 200% increase in male genital birth defects.
  • Male birth rates have declined. Since 1970 there have been nearly 3 million fewer baby boys.

Read more facts about male infertility.

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Visit The Toxic House, to find our more about chemicals in our home environment and how to avoid them.

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