Microplastics in Semen!? Alarming Research Uncovers Health Risks
- Kevin Lankes
- 5 days ago
- 5 min read
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/oL5F7vFnkIU
A study from a Chinese research team published in August of last year found microplastics in human baby batter. Not only that, but if found microplastics in every single sample that they tested. I don’t think I really have to explain to you why this is bad--I mean for one, we aren’t really 100% sure, but also even if it’s not so bad it’s still bad. And, turns out, it is actually bad. So let’s get into it, just like the microplastics have gotten into our knuckle yogurt.
The Chinese study picked up eight different types of plastic from the analysis. The most common was polystyrene, which is used in packaging material. The next most prevalent was polyethylene, from lots of things but plastic bags for one, and then PVC after that.
Other collaborating studies about plastic love tadpoles have found microplastics in anywhere from half to a majority of samples.
And this isn’t coming out of nowhere, and no I didn’t try to make that a pun, but here we are. Even more research in August of 2024, this time a study from the Society of Toxicology, found microplastics in testicles. They tested testicles--they tested testicles tilting toward the towers testing testicles. Bottom line, they got a bunch of balls, they got human balls and dog balls, 23 human and 47 canine, and they cracked ‘em open like walnuts and they found microplastics in every single one.
Okay, so a confluence of ideas and research surrounds this news. One thing is that, so far, we’ve been finding microplastics everywhere and in everything. The world is so completely polluted with microplastics that we’ve found them in Antarctica. Right in the Antarctic snow, and also in ice core samples taken off the coast. We’ve found them in the deepest parts of the ocean and throughout the various tissues of the human body including inside the human heart. Hey, the heart wants what it wants, what can I say? They’re absolutely everywhere and as of now we really don’t know what that means. We know that some things they can do are bad. Like they can melt sea ice through heat absorption so that can contribute to climate change. In the body, they probably cause inflammation and chemical and hormonal changes. But the studies that uncovered these dangers have mostly been done in animals, so we can only say for sure what they do to things other than us. Like in one Rhode Island College of Pharmacology study that discovered microplastics could cross the blood-brain barrier in mice.
In that study, the researchers used plastics that didn’t contain any known harmful chemicals, but just the presence of microplastics alone caused a cognitive decline in the mice that mimicked dementia. And unfortunately, the real world doesn’t have laboratory controls, so the plastics all around us and inside us are made of known harmful chemicals, and they even carry diseases after exposure in the outside world and then spread those to various populations. Polyethylene and PVC microplastics have also been found to pose an increased risk of heart attack and stroke to those with the pollutants in their blood vessels. They mix in with the fatty deposits and plaque that accumulates along the arterial walls.
In the case of our junks, there are a lot of concerns there too. Researchers have been following a fall in sperm count across the globe, as much as fifty percent over the last fifty years. We don’t know why this is happening, but one of the theories is microplastics. Now that we know it’s in everyone’s balls, that’s definitely a logical theory. We just have to wait to find more of a smoking gun. And I’m going to try really hard not to turn that into a pun or some kind of joke like about that.
The other thing to think about are the effects of chemical and hormonal disruption that certain chemicals in plastics are known to cause. Any kind of change, especially in a system so sensitive as the human reproductive system, is going to have long-tail effects that won’t be noticed right away and won’t be picked up on until far into the future. And that’s assuming we even know what we’re looking at, because again, there’s simply not enough human testing to know exactly how any of this will impact us.
Honestly, I’ve been thinking this was all kind of nice before I knew any better about what was happening inside me. I’ve just been over here 3D printing a whole lego village. And anytime I make extra for dinner and need a plastic container for leftovers, well, here I go. So these studies are really making things connect for me because I was starting to think that I was just spiderman now.
Okay so, if it hasn’t been totally spelled out for you by now, you should try your best to avoid overexposure of plastic. Like I said though, there’s microplastics absolutely everywhere, but you can at least decrease your contact with them by doing a couple of key things. Don’t eat out of or store food in plastic containers. Wear clothes made of natural fibers and not synthetic material. Change out any drinkware that’s plastic for glass alternatives. Make sure your pillows, pillow cases, and bed sheets are cotton or bamboo and not polyester. Shop using reusable bags. Generally try to discourage any single use plastics in your life. A lot of times that’s impossible because single-use plastics is just kind of a religious law in our society right now, but hopefully with some political pressure that could change. And if not, then microplastics will be the end of the American empire the way that lead exposure was one of the leading causes of the fall of the Roman Empire. We’ll just poison ourselves and we’ll deserver every minute of it.
But until then, let’s try our best to look out for each other in a truly unfortunate circumstance of our own design. Let’s do some f*cking good about the microplastics in our balls in whatever ways that we personally can.
And please make sure to like and subscribe so I can keep telling everyone all about the horrible things that are happening to us as a species. Links to the episode sources, along with the LDSFG website and merch, and my Patreon, are all down below in the digeridoodles. If you check those out and perhaps buy me a coffee, just make sure it comes in a paper cup. I’ll see you in the next one.
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