When Size Really DOES Matter

Last night, I watched a program which constitutes pornography here on Irish television. It was a documentary investigating sperm dysfunction, testicular cancer and reproductive abnormalities in men (commonly referred to as 'small penis size'.) I'm not kidding. This was prime time television in rural Ireland and they were discussing...small penises...as if it were the end of the world. After about ten minutes, I was able to see the television through the blur of tears caused by the laughter. It was then I began to understand how serious the whole thing is (the subject, not the penises!)It may really BE the end of the world if the average penis size becomes small. And not just for the pleasure of women!

The Canadian Medical Association Journal January 1999 edition hthttp://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/reprint/160/2/213.pdf cites a number of possible causes, but penis size was an indicator in a number of problems that all combine to paint a very disturbing picture. Small penises, hypospadius and non decendant testicles were all associated with slow sperm swimming. It was also linked to a higher frequency of testicular cancer. Testicular cancer, on the rise in Canada by 2% annually (a 60% increase in ages 15 - 29 over the last 30 years) was the most alarming.

Interestingly, they managed to blame the mom, citing influences caused in the fetal period that contributed to the increase in cancer. You read that right. Now, some people are being exposed to things that will cause their death BEFORE they are even born! While a curious argument for the pro-life debate crowd, a 60% increase is crazy scary! And the fact that it has been increasing steadily every year is also alarming. OK, so it IS Canada, and there are some who would argue whether this was really a bad thing, but it is also happening in Danish populations too. (Again, there are some...) But the journal makes this incredible statement:

• 
  Which environmental agents are the likely culprits? A
  number of microcontaminants have hormone-disrupting
  properties, either with estrogenic or antiandrogenic activity.
  The list includes DDT, PCBs, nonylphenol, bisphenola
  and vinclozolin

• Epidemiologic trends support the concept that testicular
  cancer, undescended testis, hypospadius and impaired
  spermatogenesis are related biologically. A substantial
  amount of evidence indicates that environmental pollutants
  with estrogenic or antiandrogenic activity result in
  hormonal disruption and are responsible for the steadily
  increasing incidence of testicular cancer.

• This hypothesisis also supported by wildlife studies. For example, small
  genitalia and decreased semen quality have beeen reported
  in Florida alligators and American panthers.

Guillette LJ Jr, Gross TS, Masson GR, Matter JM, Percival HF, Woodward
AR. Developmental abnormalities of the gonad and abnormal sex hormone
concentrations in juvenile alligators from contaminated and control lakes in
Florida. Environ Health Perspect 1994;102:680-8.

Facemire CF, Gross TS, Guillette LJ Jr. Reproductive impairment in the
Florida panther: nature or nurture? Environ Health Perspect 1995;103(Suppl
4):79-86

The point here is the fact that we have bigger problems than the economic crisis on the horizon. If toxins (which are currently approved by the FDA) are actually reducing the population of many species, including man, we won't have to worry about money. There won't be enough people to do the jobs. We'll be looking at number reductions that border on that of the Black Plague during Medieval Europe! Carbon footprints won't be an issue. Hell, any footprint will be acceptable if this happens.

Why, you ask? Aren't there too many people on the earth as it is? Well, aside from the reality that the population explosion is just another manufactured crisis to distract us from the real problems, it means few species in certain locations, across the board. Fewer species mean less food. And if humans are also going to see fewer numbers, or face greater cancers (remember, this could also have an influence on breast and uterine cancers) we, as a nation, will be facing a healthcare crisis, and possibly other man made catastrophes (thought I'd throw that in, just for fun, Ms. Napolitano!)

This IS the real problem. We need to pay attention to what is happening around us ALREADY...not some fairytale story about global warming that has no basis in fact and was contrived by a bunch of dreadlock hippie throwbacks who smoked a lid of bad pot and got paranoid. Oh, but they better check the pesticides on that pot. Drug use has also been indicated in sexual dysfunction. Coincidence? I think not!