Pollution obviously has led
to a variety of health issues,
environmental issues.
It's been endangering wildlife and
making the air far more difficult
to breathe in many parts
of the world.
But pollution's next victim,
or maybe even current victim could
be penises.
And that's human penises,
according to Dr. Shauna Swan,
a renowned environmental and
reproductive epistemologist,
I can't say it.
She's a scientist, epidemiologist.
I did it, okay, so there we go.
She released a new book that
actually details the link between
industrial chemicals in products
that we use on a daily basis, and
how it impacts lower sperm count,
erectile dysfunction,
and, yes, even smaller penis size.
So the book is based primarily off
of one of her recent studies.
I'll give you some excerpts,
as reported by Vice.
So in 2017, Swan co-authored
a study that found sperm counts had
plummeted in the West, Jesus,
by 59% between 1973 and 2011.
In her new book, Swan explores how
a low sperm count,
low fertility rates, and
penis shrinkage is tied to a common
culprit, chemicals.
So these chemicals are found in
products that we use on a daily
basis.
And also things like plastics,
food wrapping,
cleaning products, electronics,
even in some of the food we eat.
The chemicals are found commonly in
plastics, herbicides,
toothpaste, beauty products, and
act as endocrine disruptors.
Which leads to premature birth,
lower IQs, obesity and,
according to Swan's research,
smaller penis size.
It might be hard to avoid these
chemicals since they are often not
on labels and are commonly found
in plastics, shampoos, cosmetics,
cushions, canned foods, and
even ATM receipts.
Was, A, are you buying it?
And B, if you are buying it,
are you surprised?
>> [LAUGH] I'm buying it the sense
that, if this does play a role in
erectile dysfunction and
low sperm count, and sort of it
affects your libido, I think we all
know that you need an erection in
order to perform these tasks.
So if you're having trouble with
all of that, then I'm buying it.
I can believe that all of these
stuff sort of play
with our body chemistry.
I would be more concerned with
the low sperm count and
just generally not being up for
the task than anything else.
Because we all
know it ain't the size of the ship,
it's the motion in the ocean, Ana.
>> Mm-hm, yeah, I mean,
I've been lucky.
So I haven't had
a lot of experience on the smaller
end of the spectrum, but
nonetheless, I agree with you.
I mean, the important issue here,
shout outs to Christian.
[LAUGH] >> This is a serious
story, okay?
I apologize for being a child here.
But you're right.
I mean, and by the way,
this doesn't just impact males.
This clearly has an impact
on females as well, and
fertility is an issue.
So birth defects could be connected
to these chemicals.
This year, researchers from
France's national public agency
found that young boys who lived in
polluted regions where coal mining
used to take place were twice
as likely to have one descended
testicle and five times likely to
have two undescended testicles.
So there's that.
Also, women might have difficulty
conceiving, if they're looking to
get pregnant and have children.
So it's obviously awful to
read this stuff.
We know that the environment has
an impact on our health,
on our well-being.
And whenever you hear these debates
take place about healthcare, for
instance.
One of my favorite authors is
Barbara Ehrenreich, and
I love everything she has
to say about this culture
of personal responsibility.
Especially as it pertains to
healthcare in America.
We have this privatized healthcare
system, and every time we engage
in discussions about fixing it,
changing it.
You hear a lot from corporatists
and the private insurance companies
about how, well, if you just take
personal responsibility.
If you take care of your health,
if you eat right, if you exercise,
if you do this, if you do that,
you're going to be fine.
You're going to be fine.
No, you're not going to be fine.
Because there are so many things
that have been deregulated, that
have been taken out of our control,
that have an impact on our health.
And to treat this as if, no, no,
no, it's your fault, Americans.
It's your fault that you're
overweight.
It's your fault that you're, well,
how do these chemicals impact
our metabolism, right?
And why is it that these chemicals
aren't labeled or
listed on the products that we
consume- >> You just hit the nail
right on the head, Ana.
How can I be personally responsible
for knowing to avoid something that
I, one, don't even know to avoid?
And two, even if I did,
it's that information isn't being
divulged to me.
And, ideally, this is where
something, an entity is powerful as
the American federal government
would step in with regulation,
with fining, with coming down on
people, excuse me, on corporations
who basically make us sick.
Make us less horny.
Hopefully, they would come down on
these guys.
But because, as with so many other
things, the tail is wagging the dog
of the American government.
Basically, big business tells
the government what to do, rather
than, again, [LAUGH] the most
powerful entity in the world
dictating terms to these guys
who are polluting our citizenry.
>> Yeah, exactly, exactly.
So this is something that is just
going to continue to get worse.
And remember,
during the Trump administration,
one of his focuses he did manage to
get quite a few things done.
Especially when it
comes to rolling back protections,
environmental protections,
rolling back necessary labeling
when it comes to toxic chemicals.
Rolling back regulations on things
like toxic dumping.
That is what the Trump
administration did manage to
accomplish, to our detriment.
So this was something
that was already a problem prior
to the Trump administration.
It was exacerbated through his
deregulatory efforts.
And I get that Biden is very busy,
trying to undo some of the damage
from the Trump administration.
But i would certainly prioritize
cleaning up our environment as much
as humanly possible.
Not just by reversing what Trump
managed to do during his four years
in office, but
by going much further than that.
And, when you have this system of
corruption, that's incredibly
difficult to, it's not that it's
difficult to accomplish it.
It's that politicians are bought
off by corporate interests.
>> And, Ana, it's important that we
point that out,
because people need to understand
that it's not that these people who
are on the boards of these
companies are so uniquely evil.
No, it's that,
in the current system,
where profits are prioritized over
everything, right?
The reason why they don't clean
this stuff up, the reason why they
behave and they take the posture
that they do when it comes to
concealing this stuff is because it
might cost them money.
And you never willingly do,
in our system,
anything that will cost you money.
It's the job of the government to
catch you and prosecute you for it.
Basically, make the sort of
punishments so
bad that you are then incentivized
to do that thing, right?
But outside of that,
when the profit motive takes
precedence over everything, this is
always what's going to be the case.
They're going to do whatever is
best for their bottom line, at the
detriment of even our sperm count.
I mean, the precious sperm count,
the Christians said we were
supposed to multiply, man.
How are we supposed to do that when
they polluting us, Ana?
>> I don't know.
[LAUGH] >> It's just going to be
a lot more difficult,
lot more difficult based on what
this scientist is saying.