which you might have seen from these headlines

all over the internet.

And in the last 40 years, sperm counts in men

have decreased by 50%

and the distance between the anus

and the genitals in boys,

aka the taint has been shrinking.

So today we are going to explain what is going on.

Testosterone levels in men have been declining since 1982.

A meta analysis of over 185 studies

that looked at over 48,000 men,

found that between the years of 1973

and 2011 male sperm concentration had decreased by 52%

and overall sperm count had decreased by 59%.

26% of men who have erectile dysfunction

are now under the age of 40.

Looking at sperm bank semen in 1963,

one teaspoon of sperm which is your average ejaculation

would have had 99 million viable sperm per milliliter.

By 2011, it had fallen all the way

to only 49 million viable sperm.

And the decrease in the sperm counts, sperm concentration

and viable sperm

is why now male fertility issues contribute 1/4 to 1/3

of all fertility issues.

And now we are starting to understand finally

why this is happening.

It comes down to plastics, pesticides, and the chemicals

in the products that we're using every day.

Plastics, pesticides and chemicals

in our products contain EDCs,

endocrine disrupting chemicals.

These chemicals can bind to hormone sites in our body

and fool our bodies into thinking

they're the natural hormone.

Hormones are signaling molecules in your body

that are a part of your amazing endocrine system.

The endocrine system consists of these glands in your body

that secrete hormones in order for your organs

and your tissues to essentially communicate.

For example, when stressed

your brain will signal your pituitary gland

to release ACTH, and this pituitary gland is in your brain.

No, it is not your testicles, even though it looks like it.

The ACTH enters the blood where it then makes its way

to your adrenal gland.

Now the adrenal gland secretes cortisol

another hormone that enters the bloodstream

and then increases glucose within your body

to help you deal with that stress.

This is just one example

of endocrine biological signaling processes

but there are many more that control how you breathe,

how your digestion works

and even the sensory you feel when you touch a wall.

Back to the endocrine disrupting chemicals or EDCs,

they can also control

how our natural hormones are broken down and stored.

And they also change our body's sensitivity

to the real hormones.

So let's start with

the endocrine disrupting chemicals phthalates

These chemicals are in plastics

'cause they make them soft and flexible.

They're also in floor coverings,

and soap, and hair spray.

One study of 72 common household objects

found phthalates in three quarters of the products

such as deodorant, and hair gels, and fragrances.

So in rats, if the expectant mother is exposed to phthalates

18 to 21 days after mating,

the male pups will have a decrease in testosterone.

In humans, if an expectant mother is exposed to phthalates

between week eight to 12 of the embryo's development

they can disrupt testosterone

and lead to boys coming out

with a decreased penis size, lower sperm counts

and a smaller ADG, a smaller taint

Now let's look at the BPA

which you may have heard a lot about.

It can be found in non-state coatings

and lots of different plastics and electronics

and also in receipt paper.

Men working at factories with high levels of BPA

had their urine examined

that turned out that increased levels of BPA in their urine

led to four times lower sperm counts,

three times lower sperm vitality

and decreased sperm mobility.

Sons of men with high BPA exposure had decreased ADGs

and were more likely to have ejaculation issues

and decreased sexual desire.

And there are a lot of other chemicals

that disrupt endocrine hormones from those in plastic toys

and air fresheners, nail Polish, pesticides

to the grease and stain repellents and fast food containers,

and the dioxins found in meat and dairy,

all of which have an impact on sperm count

taint size or penis length.

It's not just EDCs and plastics and pesticides

that are decreasing male fertility,

it's also other things that we are just doing to our body.

Smoking cigarettes, or even just exposure

to secondhand smoke can actually cause damage to our sperm.

It can decrease our testosterone

and decrease our ability for the little guys

to make its way to the egg.

And right now men smoke five times as much as women

which is causing a decrease in male fertility.

And it's not just cigarettes, sadly,

also those marijuana smokers, like me, also have to look out

because a 2015 study in Denmark

found that smoking marijuana more than once a week

led to a 29% decrease in sperm count.

Also curing meat with nitrites and nitrates

and the chlorinated pollutants

that can be found in animal meat and dairy

can damage your sperms DNA.

Men who eat more processed meat

have a decreased sperm count

and decreased normally shaped semen.

And this could be caused by the endocrine issues

that these chemicals in these meats have.

One thing is becoming extremely clear,

which is that the chemicals we are now using

in our modern world

are creating a decrease in male fertility

so much so that a variety of studies

have found a 1% decrease in testosterone

in men per year, since 1982.

As for what you can do right now at home

you can eat less meat and dairy,

you can not heat up things in plastic containers

'cause that can actually have the chemicals

seep into your food,

you can eat less takeout and fast food

as the actual packaging can be an issue in those cases

as well as the gloves that fast food workers wear

while they're preparing your food.

One study found that teenagers who ate out more

had a 55% increase in some of these EDCs

as compared to teenagers who solely ate at home.

If you do use a non-stick pan, keeping the heat low

and for shorter periods of time

and if you ever see any sort of flaking on them,

get rid of them.

Dilates can leach into food in processing practices

and in food packaging,

so, eating less processed food

or food with less packaging can also help.

We need to regulate corporations

so that they can't just use these chemicals on us.

Right now corporations can experiment with our bodies.

The way that this regulation works,

so it's kind of innocent until proven guilty.

So only when we start to realize the detrimental effects

of these chemicals, do we then start to regulate them.

We need to change that order.

You may have seen this tweet from Greta Thunberg.

I think it's rather smart and funny,

and we will see you at the next climate match.

We need to hit the streets and hold our governments

and our corporations accountable

when it comes to regulating

these chemicals out of our bodies.

They need to keep us safe,

they need to help us lead healthier lives.

And we didn't even really know the effects

that these chemicals were gonna have on us

and now that we do,

we need to figure out how to get them out.

This is really important so that we can keep

all of our (beep).

If you wanna learn more,

grab the book "Count Down" by Shanna Swan.

She's sort of ringing the alarm on all of these issues,

I am just helping her try

and get this information out there.

The book is full of amazing resources

and gives you a really great understanding

of what is going on here.

Thank you so much for watching

and we will see you next week

for a new science video, peace.