Are autism disorders, and other neurological developmental disorders, caused by DNA damaged sperm?
Concerned heart is a blogger who authors several blogs dealing with paternal age and dramatic increases in a number of disorders including autism, ADHD and schizophrenia. She posts many articles linking paternal age with declining sperm quality and increased rates of disorders including autism, ADHD and schizophrenia.
The CBC documentary The Disappearing Male reports the impact on males of our chemical based society including declining sperm quality. On the accompanying CBC web site page Factsheet: Male Infertility are some of the startling facts from that documentary:
The CBC documentary The Disappearing Male reports the impact on males of our chemical based society including declining sperm quality. On the accompanying CBC web site page Factsheet: Male Infertility are some of the startling facts from that documentary:
- The average sperm count of a North American college student today is less than half of what it was 50 years ago.
- The quality of sperm is declining. Eighty-five per cent of the sperm produced by a healthy male is DNA-damaged.
- The chemical industry has developed more than 90,000 man-made chemicals in the last sixty years. Eighty-five percent of them have never undergone testing for their impact on the human body.
85%? If autism is related to declining sperm quality as suggested by dramatically higher rates of autism amongst children of fathers over 35 at the time of conception and if 85% of sperm is damaged, even amongst college age males, from chemical exposures, is it any wonder that we are seeing increases in autism, adhd, learning disabilities, Tourett's syndrome, cerebral palsy and dyslexia as reported by the CBC?
With 85% of sperm being DNA damaged is the human species already damaged beyond repair?If we allow the conditions that result in such incredibly high rates of DNA damaged sperm to continue unchecked will humanity as we know it continue to exist?
Autistic children are not just "natural variations". They may quite literally be the canaries in the coal mine of our chemical society.
autism
6 comments:
Ontario has banned cosmetic tested pesticides and is allowing untested organics to be used. These organics are toxic if used incorrectly. Including those hand soaps, bathroom/kitchen cleaning products.. the one's that are suppose to have material data safety sheets when used anywhere but in the house.... I'm not certain if it's required for "so called" safe organics.
IMO they should have simply done the same they did for agriculture. Allow them to be used but you must take a pesticide handling course (all day) and renew it regularly for either individuals or companies or both.
It's not the chemical most of the time... it's the usage of it.
The air is cleaner.... I remember the days of rotten eggs driving past Hamilton and the steel factories.... I'm not convinced this toxic soup happened in the last 10yrs that the greenies would like you to believe. You start watching the experiments/factories of the 40's and 50's on TV. The finding of the chemical dumps from that time period that are now leaking. My Opa's stories of working in GM with your bare hands in chemicals that now you wear a full hazard suit when you're around. Dad's of the white cherries you picked from the trees at the OMAFRA experimental farm, that you wiped off on your pants before you ate it.
It's been going on a long time... Which is why IMO we need gene research and stem cell research to also help reverse some of these damages. Just like we're trying to do better all the time with the general environment.
There will always be damage. Can't prevent it with humans on the planet... best we can do is... do our best.
All of my kids were fathered after I turned 42. The older I got, the healthier the kids were. I was 46 when I fathered my daughter and she's fine. I spent half my life on golf courses, lying down on the chemical covered grass to wait between shots. If anyone was going to be bothered by pesticides, it would be aging golfers.
I think the fact that I cured one son by removing mercury proves that trying to blame age and pesticides rather than thimerosal is just another red herring designed to take blame off the vaccine industry.
John
My younger autistic son was conceived when I was 41. That single fact proves nothing. It is the studies cited on concerned heart's blog sites which point to paternal age as 1 factor in causing autism. That does not rule out other factors such as a possible vaccine autism connection.
The most significant fact in the CBC documentary which does match up is the fact that 85% of YOUNG men now have DNA damaged sperm. The point in common with the paternal age issue is the sperm quality.
The chemicals mentioned in the CBC documentary go far beyound pesticides. They are present in every facet of modern life including the computer I am typing this comment on, baby bottles (Canada has now banned Bisphenol A from baby bottles, the US has not) childrens' "safe toys" and on and on.
With 85% DNA damaged sperm autism is only ONE of the very serous concerns our children and grand children will be wrestling with.
I do not believe we can just continue to ignore the rising rates of neurological developmental disorders and to just ignore the many toxins we absorb from so many sources.
Hmm, the "advanced paternal age" doesn't ring true for us, at least. My autistic daughter was born when my husband was 28 and I was 24.
I really like this post. This is a huge factor--pesticides alone, and then in some cases those pesticides often damaging sperm. It's a fact, as you stated, that sperm counts have changed for the worse over the years. Pesticides, toxins, chemicals. So many of those today. Even though we are on the young side of being parents, we are also exposed to toxins more and more and it does affect the quality of everything--including sperm, our methylation process, etc....
I really love the post. Now I know the possible things that can cause autism to babies and the best thing to do aside from taking care is to stay healthy.
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