While global warming is shrinking the Arctic icecaps, industrial pollutants are
shrinking the genitals of polar bears in Greenland. The case of the shrinking penis may not be limited to polar bears as these pollutants may be affecting all marine mammals, including the Arctic fox, killer whale and pilot whales because their bodies "also carry extremely high levels of these contaminants." Moreover, other pollutants have been reported in people as well from the eating of Arctic wildlife.
The case of the polar bear is particularly disturbing because they already
face death from global warming that is melting the ice and preventing seas from freezing into ice that the bears need for hunting, and some are now starving to death. Now, pollution is
"spoiling their love lives and causing their numbers to peter out."
The polar bears ingest the pollutants by eating seals, whose blubber "accumulates high levels of organic pollutants loaded with halogens such as chlorine. These organohalogens can act like hormones." Researchers found that when there were higher levels of organohalogen in the polar bear, the bear's testicle and penis bone were smaller.
The reduction in penis size is a big problem when it comes to mating and thus continuation of the species:
"Polar bears have among the lowest reproductive rates for terrestrial mammals. The scientists say reducing polar bear penis size would make sex less successful, upsetting naturally slow-to-grow polar bear numbers. Testicle and ovary shrinkage would upset polar bear reproduction too."
It's not just wildlife. The Inuit in Canada and Greenland have the world's "highest exposure to several persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and mercury because of their high intake of fatty tissues such as the blubber of marine mammals." Scientists say the "mercury levels in some Arctic indigenous people were high enough to affect children's development, possibly through breast feeding." The evidence is so strong that US pollution is the cause of pollutants and toxins in the Inuit that legal actions based on human rights violations is now viewed as one viable remedy.
And, it's not just the Inuit that is at risk from air or water pollutants and toxins that entered their food chain and now their bodies. We know that air pollution can shorten the lives of people in Britain by 8 months, kills thousands of Californians each year from diseases "caused by or aggravated by air pollution," increases the risk of cancer and may affect babies' genes.
So, the case of the polar bears' shrinking penises may be an omen for mankind just as the death of the yellow canary in the mines warned miners of lethal gases. Whether in the air we breathe, the water we drink, or the food we eat, toxins are killing people now. For those who have not been concerned about environmental issues, consider the polar bears' shrinking penises caused by industrial pollutants that entered the food chain a potential harbinger of what lies in our future.
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UPDATE: Greenpeace has an interesting article about the impact of chemicals ingested by people and how it may be related to many diseases and changes, including declining sperm counts and the birth of fewer boys.