In the tradition of Silent Spring and The Sixth Extinction, an urgent, “disturbing, empowering, and essential” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) book about the ways in which chemicals in the modern environment are changing–and endangering–human sexuality and fertility on the grandest scale, from renowned epidemiologist Shanna Swan. In 2017, author Shanna Swan and her team of researchers … Swan and her team of researchers completed a major study. They found that over the past four decades, sperm levels among men in Western countries have dropped by more than 50 percent. They came to this conclusion after examining 185 studies involving close to 45,000 healthy men. The result sent shockwaves around the globe–but the story didn’t end there. It turns out our sexual development is changing in broader ways, for both men and women and even other species, and that the modern world is on pace to become an infertile one.
How and why could this happen? What is hijacking our fertility and our health? Count Down unpacks these questions, revealing what Swan and other researchers have learned about how both lifestyle and chemical exposures are affecting our fertility, sexual development–potentially including the increase in gender fluidity–and general health as a species. Engagingly explaining the science and repercussions of these worldwide threats and providing simple and practical guidelines for effectively avoiding chemical goods (from water bottles to shaving cream) both as individuals and societies, Count Down is “staggering in its findings” (Erin Brockovich, The Guardian) and “will serve as an awakening” (The New York Times Book Review).
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*Count Down* is a solid fact-based description of an alarming problem that we humans face now. In the past forty years, human male sperm count has dropped by more than fifty percent. Female fertility also has declined precipitously in the same period. If this rate continues, then the human species could become extinct. In other words, writers like P.D. James (*Children of Men*) are beginning to seem more like prescient visionaries than creators of dystopian science fiction.
What is causing this? Author Shanna Swan, a reproductive and environmental epidemiologist, sums it up in a few words. “If it sounds like we’re living in an alphabet soup of evil chemicals, well, we are.” There are many evil chemicals that risk our health and existence, but the worst are endocrine disruptors, a class of chemicals that disrupt hormone function. Chief among these chemicals are phthalates, a key component of plastics. Endocrine disruptors negatively affect our reproductive health which has led to a low fertility among humans, and even a declining interest in sex in general. Human fetuses in the womb are also negatively affected by the endocrine disruptors. And we’re not the only creatures being adversely affected. The horror extends to the fish in the sea, the birds and bees in the air – to every living creature.
Swan lays out all the data which makes the story both equally credible and terrifying. She also makes a compelling case that our governments are doing a very poor job of regulating these dangerous chemicals. Unlike too many authors who sound environmental alarm bells with no suggestions of what we can do, Swan has a “personal protection plan” to mitigate effects of the chemicals, as well as “reducing the chemical footprint in our homes.” I intend to implement as many of these suggestions as possible. She also makes it clear that we cannot as individuals solve this problem. She argues that we must vote and put in office government leaders who will act to regulate these “evil chemicals.” Highly recommended.
Alarming. Maybe. Full disclosure up front: I’m not overly concerned about human extinction. But for those that might be concerned that it might be possible… you’re probably going to want to read this book. Swan has spent a lifetime studying human reproduction, and the data she presents here is genuinely startling. I fully admit I am no expert here, but her case is well documented, sometimes with pages of footnotes at the end of each chapter and with a bibliography roughly 1/3 the total page count of the book. Which is average ish for a well-documented science book in my experience. Really the only quibbles I have with the book at all truly are completely philosophical. As I said, I’m not actually concerned about human extinction, and in the final chapter before her conclusion, Swan calls for a number of government actions… and I’m an avowed anarchist. 😉 That said, this text is a very clear example of the need for leaders – and even individuals – to listen to subsystem experts (in thie case, human reproduction) but be aware of how recommendations from those experts about their subsystems could lead to disastrous results in other areas, and work to address the concerns of the experts while avoiding the outside disastrous outcomes. Still, for the hard science that the bulk of the text shows here, this is truly an excellent read. Very much recommended.