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medpundit |
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Tuesday, November 12, 2002Fertile men from mid-Missouri's Boone County were found to have a mean sperm count of about 59 million per milliliter, compared to 103 million for men in New York, 99 million in Minnesota and 81 million in Los Angeles. The sperm of the Boone County men also tended to be less vigorous, the study found. Why could this be? The people doing the study think they know the answer: Dr. Shanna Swan of the University of Missouri-Columbia, the lead researcher, said she and her collaborators believe that environmental factors such as the use of agricultural chemicals might contribute to the differences. CNN says that the paper is available on-line at the Environmental Health Perspectives website, but as I type this, it isn't. But, an association isn't proof of a connection. While it's true that farmers and people in rural counties are probably exposed to more fertilizer and pesticides than urban dwellers, it doesn't follow that they're responsible for any differences between the two populations. The difference in sperm count could just as easily be due to ethnicity, but without the paper itself to examine, it's impossible to say. Too bad CNN didn't provide the details. posted by Sydney on 11/12/2002 06:40:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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