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Science

Microplastics Found in Every Human Semen Sample Tested in Study (theguardian.com) 190

Posted by msmash from the pain-in-the-balls dept.
Microplastic pollution has been found in all human semen samples tested in a study, and researchers say further research on the potential harm to reproduction is "imperative." From a report: Sperm counts in men have been falling for decades and 40% of low counts remain unexplained, although chemical pollution has been implicated by many studies. The 40 semen samples were from healthy men undergoing premarital health assessments in Jinan, China. Another recent study found microplastics in the semen of six out of 10 healthy young men in Italy, and another study in China found the pollutants in half of 25 samples.

Recent studies in mice have reported that microplastics reduced sperm count and caused abnormalities and hormone disruption. Research on microplastics and human health is moving quickly and scientists appear to be finding the contaminants everywhere. The pollutants were found in all 23 human testicle samples tested in a study published in May. Microplastics have also recently been discovered in human blood, placentas and breast milk, indicating widespread contamination of people's bodies. The impact on health is as yet unknown but microplastics have been shown to cause damage to human cells in the laboratory.
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Microplastics Found in Every Human Semen Sample Tested in Study

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  • Wait, to get married in China you have to give a semen sample? Do they give you a magazine or just stare at you until you "produce"?

    • Wait, to get married in China you have to give a semen sample? Do they give you a magazine or just stare at you until you "produce"?

      Silly....you bring your sample from home...

      Best case, you get your fiancé to jerk you off...or maybe just spit in the container (If she REALLY worth marrying, eh?).

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by GoTeam ( 5042081 )

        Silly....you bring your sample from home...

        Seems like you could get someone else's semen sample if you're worried about your genetics for any reason. Oh well, I suppose that's life in China. It really doesn't have to make sense to me.

      • Silly....you bring your sample from home...

        The more relevant question is what sort of container do you provide your sample in because if it's plastic then that probably contaminates the sample for a test like this.

    • Wait, to get married in China you have to give a semen sample?

      China has mandatory premarital health assessments to screen for hereditary diseases.

      I've never heard of the assessment including a semen sample, but apparently, it does, at least in Jinan.

      Do they give you a magazine or just stare at you until you "produce"?

      Most men need to do more than just stare.

    • Wait, to get married in China you have to give a semen sample?

      You can't get married if you don't give a fuck.

  • Blow up dolls (Score:5, Funny)

    by Alain Williams ( 2972 ) <addw@phcomp.co.uk> on Monday June 10, 2024 @11:13AM (#64538015) Homepage

    Maybe plastic in semen will help with those men who have confused plastic blow up dolls with real women ...

  • Misleading headline... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by kenh ( 9056 ) on Monday June 10, 2024 @11:16AM (#64538035) Homepage Journal

    The 40 semen samples were from healthy men undergoing premarital health assessments in Jinan, China. Another recent study found microplastics in the semen of six out of 10 healthy young men in Italy, and another study in China found the pollutants in half of 25 samples.

    They describe THREE studies:

    - 40 samples in China, 109% microplastics found in semen

    - undisclosed number of samples in an Italian study, with 6 out of 10 samples containing microplastics in semen

    - 25 samples in a second study in China, where only half the semen samples contained microplastics

    So perhaps the better headline is: Microplastics Found in Every Human Semen Sample Tested in One Study, Less in Other Studies

    • but there's plenty more showing microplastics pretty much everywhere in our bodies. So small sample or not the results aren't surprising and are most likely going to be replicated by future studies.

      We know there's a problem, we know the plastic industry won't let us do anything about that problem. It's up to guys like you, who's 1st reaction is jump to their defense, to decide if we're ever going to do anything about that problem.

      If you're *really* rich you'll have custom farms raising your food and

    • The 40 semen samples were from healthy men undergoing premarital health assessments in Jinan, China. Another recent study found microplastics in the semen of six out of 10 healthy young men in Italy, and another study in China found the pollutants in half of 25 samples.

      They describe THREE studies:

      - 40 samples in China, 109% microplastics found in semen

      - undisclosed number of samples in an Italian study, with 6 out of 10 samples containing microplastics in semen

      - 25 samples in a second study in China, where only half the semen samples contained microplastics

      So perhaps the better headline is: Microplastics Found in Every Human Semen Sample Tested in One Study, Less in Other Studies

      It's worse than that.

      We can't read further because the quoted text is nowhere to be found it the article, they linked the news article from the previous /. story.

  • What? Missed key question (Score:5, Interesting)

    by iAmWaySmarterThanYou ( 10095012 ) on Monday June 10, 2024 @11:16AM (#64538039)

    Maybe the non-science article is just shit and the original research covers it, but the one thing not mentioned is this:

    Do the samples with microplastics have lower sperm count than those that don't and is there any correlation between levels of microplastics and degrees of,lower sperm count?

    The summary just dances around this critically important point. This should be really basic stuff.

  • Does this explain the declining intelligence [sciencedirect.com] and masculinity of younger Millennials, Zoomers, and Gen Alpha males?

    Environmental lead has been credibly blamed for at least part of the dramatic rise in crime from the late 60s through a peak in the early 90s, so there is precedent for human-originated contaminants causing major shifts in biochemistry and behavior. One also has to wonder about the effects on the animal kingdom as a whole.

    If this story follows historical precedent, we will eventually disco

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by dfghjk ( 711126 )

      Oh look, there's the bigotry! I guess "we" CAN name that subset after all.

      Note that the article does not say "Millennials, Zoomers, and Gen Alpha males", it does not discuss "masculinity" at all, does not claim "declining intelligence" and does not offer any explanation of "why". All of this bigoted narrative. It doesn't even assert that the phenomenon is real or what it is.

      • These are all observable, and observed, scientific facts. The present questions have to do with causes. If you engage in magical thinking, then the facts are bigotry.

        Are you trying to prove the point about Social Issues?

  • Line from a song from long ago talked about plastic people everywhere. Never thought it would be so literal. Not totally surprised that its not benign either -- how many times have we been told that something potentially problematic was safe? It may be safe, but its us that are in trouble.

  • Sounds like another thing for uptight liberals to be afraid of.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Well, so, the conservatives are afraid of microscopic spy drones in vaccines, but plastic-spy drones in everything are just fine? Must have been non-plastic spy-drones in the vaccines, I take it?

  • Plastic is nothing more than a modified hydrocarbon. This is why O&G is used for this. So O&G have sat in the ground for 100s of millions to billion+ years. Add heat and pressure and you get lots of interesting molecules. So, Iâ(TM)m guessing this is natural and science is ignored. Check for plastics in O&G, as well as aquifers.

    • So, yes. You are guessing. Incorrectly. Plastics are not naturally occurring. Polymers, yes. Plastics, no.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by PPH ( 736903 )

        Polymers, yes.

        But that's pretty much the definition of plastics [wikipedia.org]. Naturally occurring [wikipedia.org] or synthesized. And synthesizing something might involve nothing more than putting it in a pot and cooking it. So there goes your vegetarian diet.

        • No. Plastics are all polymers, but not all polymers are plastics.

          Plastics do not occur naturally. They require human action to come into being.

    • Yes, because we all know that oil wells are famous for gushers of plastic beads and sheets.

      This take is about as brilliant as saying that because potatoes and vegetable oil are "natural" that we should have French Fry trees, or that all we need to do to build a nuclear reactor is start pumping water into a uranium mine.

      TL;DR: there are aspects of the process to create these chemicals that do not occur naturally, thus the chemical compounds are not natural.

  • Newborn! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Spinlock_1977 ( 777598 ) <{moc.oohay} {ta} {7791_kcolnipS}> on Monday June 10, 2024 @11:33AM (#64538107) Journal

    My wife gave birth to our first child yesterday. It was a plastic Ken doll with "Made by Matel" stamped on the butt.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      My wife gave birth to our first child yesterday. It was a plastic Ken doll with "Made by Matel" stamped on the butt.

      Does he have a brother named iAmWaySmarterThanYou [slashdot.org]?

    • "What goes up, will squeeze out."

      You shouldn't do that with Ken, though.

  • In another study, microplastics in the brain make editors post duplicates. [slashdot.org]

    Granted "testicles" and "semen" are not the same thing, but it's pretty obvious if it's in the nuts it will spew out.

  • Well, first they'd have to filter my samples to remove all of the merino wool.

  • "Tastes worse than asparagus"

    • "...and smells just as bad."

      "...but better than pee."

      "...mmm, plasticky."

      "...and I wouldn't know what asparagus tastes like. Ow!"

  • But it seems to me that these microplastics researchers are WAY TOO hung up on testicles and semen.

  • Microplastics may be a big contributer, Or I am just getting old.
  • causes prostrate cancer, and other cancers in the body

    • Excellent question! We aren't able to tell because there isn't a person on the planet without detectable levels or microplastics. So no control group. But I'm sure this is all perfectly fine.

      • What about one of those uncontacted tribes. Abduct a member, and run tests on them (preferably via an anal probe) and then return them when we're done.

    • NO. it's inert. What they are finding is that larger stuff is filling guts of marine life and they have been starting to measure it in clogged arteries and finding quite a bit of it mixed in like fiberglass. So it doesn't give you a heart attack, it just bulks up and accelerates... maybe somebody could invent a plastic breakdown chemical for the blood and it actually helps break up deposits? (maybe small enough chunks to not create stokes elsewhere?)

      Some of the plasticizers and manufacturing chemicals (no

  • 1. It's invisible
    2. It is catastrophically dangerous
    3. You're not allowed to disagree
    4. It can only be defeated by the totalitarian implementation of one political party's America-last wish list.

    You will find this exact set of criteria applies to almost every mainstream media headline.

    Check.

  • Or rather Barbies... .... made from plastic.... it's fantastic!

  • So they physically break down, sometimes in UV, into tiny particles. Okay? Plastics are non-interactive with almost anything, acid-proof, water-proof, and heat-proof at human body temps. So what exactly is it doing if it can't be metabolised or broken down in any way?
  • She really should get my permission to send in these samples.

  • Yes, but how does this teleport a billion dollars into lawyer pockets?

  • This is a feature not a bug.

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