Count Down

An urgent, groundbreaking book about the ways in which chemicals in the modern environment are changing and endangering human sexuality and fertility on the grandest scale.

In the tradition of Silent Spring and The Sixth Extinction, an urgent, meticulously researched, and groundbreaking 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 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 at once an urgent wake-up call, an illuminating read, and a vital tool for the protection of our future.

“Unique, exhaustively researched, well-reasoned…Count Down makes a compelling case for changing what we think we know about the future of the human species.”
—Darrell Bricker, coauthor of Empty Planet: The Shock of Global Population Decline

Auteur

Shanna H. Swan, PhD, is an award-winning scientist based at Mt. Sinai and one of the leading environmental and reproductive epidemiologists in the world. Dr. Swan has published more than 200 scientific papers and has been featured in extensive media coverage around the world. Her appearances include ABC News, NBC Nightly News, 60 Minutes, CBS News, PBS, BBC, PRI Radio, NPR, and The Joe Rogan Experience as well as in leading magazines and newspapers, including Newsweek, The Washington Post, USA TODAY, Time, US News & World Report, The Guardian, Bloomberg News, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Daily News (New York), Los Angeles Times, HuffPost, Daily Mail (London), New Scientist, Mental Floss, Mother Jones, New Telegraph, Euronews, and the National Post.

Stacey Colino is an award-winning writer specializing in health and psychological issues. Her writing has appeared in US News & World Report, The Washington Post, Newsweek, Parade, National Geographic, and more. She is the coauthor of numerous books, including Count Down, Emotional Inflammation, and Disease Proof. Stacey is a lifelong dog lover and has owned three rescue dogs. Follow her on X @ColinoStacey.

Résumé
In the tradition of Silent Spring and The Sixth Extinction, an urgent, meticulously researched, and groundbreaking 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 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 at once an urgent wake-up call, an illuminating read, and a vital tool for the protection of our future.

Échantillon de lecture
Chapter 1: Reproductive Shock: Hormonal Havoc in Our Midst

1 Reproductive Shock: Hormonal Havoc in Our Midst

The Spermageddon Scare

In late July 2017, it seemed as if every media outlet around the globe had become obsessed with the state of human sperm counts. Psychology Today cried, “Going, Going, Gone? Human Sperm Counts Are Plunging,” while the BBC declared, “Sperm Count Drop Could Make Humans Extinct,” and the Financial Times announced, “?‘Urgent Wake-Up Call’ for Male Health as Sperm Counts Plummet.” A month later, Newsweek published a major cover story on the same subject: “Who’s Killing America’s Sperm?”

By the end of the year, my scientific paper “Temporal Trends in Sperm Count: A Systematic Review and Meta-Regression Analysis,” which sparked these stories—and hundreds of others around the world—was ranked number 26 among all referenced scientific papers published worldwide, according to Altmetric’s 2017 report.

This truly was the drop heard round the world.

These days, the world as we’ve known it feels as though it’s changing at warp speed. The same could be said for the status of the human race. It’s not only that sperm counts have plummeted by 50 percent in the last forty years; it’s also that this alarming rate of decline could mean the human race will be unable to reproduce itself if the trend continues. As my study collaborator Hagai Levine, MD, asks, “What will happen in the future—will sperm count reach zero? Is there a chance that this decline would lead to extinction of the human species? Given the extinction of multiple species, often associated with man-made environmental disruption, this is certainly possible. Even if there is low probability for such a scenario, given the horrific implications, we have to do our best to prevent it.”

This is especially worrisome because the sperm-count decline that’s occurring in Western countries is unabating; it’s steep, significant, and continuing, with no signs of tapering off. As Danish researcher and clinician Niels Skakkebaek, MD, who was the first person to alert the scientific community to the role of environmental factors in sperm decline, said, “It’s an inconvenient message, but the species is under threat, and that should be a wake-up call to all of us. If this doesn’t change in a generation, it is going to be an enormously different society for our grandchildren and their children.” Indeed, if the decline continues at the same rate, by 2050 many couples will need to turn to technology—such as assisted reproduction, frozen embryos, even eggs and sp…