According to scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, sperm counts among men in the west have more than halved in the past 40 years and are currently falling by an average of 1.4% a year. Humanity could soon become extinct, it was claimed by some commentators.
It was a chilling and alarming revelation. Western nations – although not developing countries – appear to be facing disaster. But what could be triggering this decline in sperm? And what can be done to counter it?
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“The end of humanity is not approaching,” said [Richard Sharpe, professor at Edinburgh University].
But at the individual level, for affected people, this trend could be tragic. We have no treatments for improving sperm production in infertile men, and we have no idea about what is the cause of the condition. We cannot remedy it. So we are completely hamstrung.
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Scientists are anxious to find an answer, but are unlikely to do so in the short term, they admit. “We should have funded large epidemiological studies of healthy males 25 years ago and this would – by now – have given us a clear answer one way or the other,” said [Professor Allan Pacey of Sheffield University].
“Unfortunately, it seems as though we might have to wait another 25 years before we might get to know the real answer.”
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post: The infertility crisis is beyond doubt. Now scientists must find the cause
