Agrichemicals and Fertility
→ Could Agrichemicals be responsible for decreased human fertility?
So, let’s break open the topic of Agrichemicals. Since the birth of artificially altering or aiding crops, this has been a controversial issue. Since their inception many NGO humanitarian groups have taken a critical stance on some going so far as to link them to the development of Alzheimer’s, cancer, birth defects and a decreased human fertility (Jakuboski, 2011) which is what we will be focusing on today. But hang on a second. If they are so bad, then why do we use them? As always there are two sides to a coin. The point of agrichemicals is to control various pests and disease carriers, such as mosquitoes, ticks, rats and mice and aid plant growth, some fertilizers greatly reducing the time of crop maturity. Agrichemicals control weeds, insect infestation, diseases and help us grow healthier plants. Some such as herbicides inhibit the growth of unwanted weeds (US EPA, OCSPP, 2019).
So, who should we believe? After all fringe theories such as flat earthers and anti-vax groups have notoriously existed for as long as the internet has, despite overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary. What does the science show? Today I’ll be running you all through a fact check on the whether or not exposure to Agrichemicals are responsible for decreased human fertility.
So, where do we start? Let’s take it slightly pessimistically and start with findings supporting agrichemicals causing increased infertility in humans. Some pesticides have been found to have a direct negative effect on the female reproductive system (Bretveld, Reini W et al., 2006). But let’s look at it sceptically here. All animals observed exhibited this negative correlation, that’s just the thing. Animals don’t always respond to chemicals the way we do. We all know what catnip is; to me and you it’s just another plant, but to a cat? It’s a gateway drug to a life of crime. Just kidding but you get the gist. Then again, if the chemical has been found to have a positive correlation in other mammals, do we really want to test it out on our kids to get conclusive evidence? Ethically it’s not viable. Another issue the study acknowledges that we’ve got to look at is the dose, timing, and duration of exposure. These are crucial a pesticides capability for detrimental effect.
So, we see there is a possible link. There is a significant chance that agrichemicals have potential to cause infertility. But what are they preventing? What is so crucial that the risk is worth it? Simple. Prevention of negative effects arising if we didn’t use the agrichemical. An overwhelming amount of studies have made it a certainty that some pesticides undoubtedly cause infertility, the most infamous one is DDT which was used globally until the link was confirmed. These chemicals are promptly banned as soon as the link is confirmed, and the fact that these side effects went undetected for so long raises serious questions about whether those that are still unconfirmed and hence unbanned might have the same effect. These discoveries have birthed the current “eco-friendly” pesticide (Kotta-Loizou, 2017), and with the surge in improvements in human technology, newer generations of eco-friendly agrochemicals that appear, with less and less evidence of their harmful effects evident. The reason why a pesticide is to banned is because conclusive evidence has not yet been reached to ascertain their effect, and whilst biased, agricultural corporations are quick to decry any link between infertility and pesticides and elaborate on the fact that our crops would be more dangerous without their use (Brush and Clemes, 1997).
More recent studies have indicated that not only females have their fertility affected, but there are infertile males (Perry, 2008); studies do point towards a link, but the problem is that their almost always inconclusive. There seems to be some kind of confounding factor that could explain away why the infertility is recorded. To quote Roeleveld’s 2008 study, which was a critical period of the agrichemical debate “some of the inconsistencies may be explained by heterogeneity in populations, pesticide exposure, and study design.” It’s then highlighted that a correlation between male infertility and agrichemicals may be drawn, but that “more research is needed” (Roeleveld, 2008). It should be noted that the majority of the links that have been found are becoming dated and this because more recent correlations have become scarcer; like I mentioned previously advances in agrichemicals have significantly pushed for a safer “eco-friendly” approach.
To deny that evidence has arisen proving a correlation of agrichemicals with infertility would be a falsity, but these links are often inconclusive, and that global EPA’s (Environmental Protection Authorities) have approved the stuff and go so far as to recommend it. A sceptic might say that the DDT scandal casts serious doubt on the EPA. This is because the consequences on fertility take such a long time to show up. So, from a critical eye why do we touch the stuff? We have been growing crops for centuries without them, right? Intensive and immediate removal and improvement of farmers yields. In our changed interconnected world, the old method of growing crops was prone to failure, and failure to sell the crops, failure to attain them and interference of the environment in the quality of farmers’ fields leads to a complete loss of livelihood. Chemical free markets do exist and int his age of misinformation and uncertainty, those not wishing to take the risk, the tried and tested option, of fresh agrichemical free produce is available. Who know? With increase in scientific knowledge and an increased availability of information, we will be certain in the future. We are living longer than ever before; in the meantime, grab an apple, sit down on and try not to dissect exactly where it came from…
References
1. Jakuboski, S. (2011). The Dangers of Pesticides | Green Science | Learn Science at Scitable. [online] Nature.com. Available at: https://www.nature.com/scitable/blog/green-science/the_dangers_of_pesticides/ [Accessed 22 Sep. 2020].
2. US EPA, OCSPP (2019). Why We Use Pesticides | US EPA. [online] US EPA. Available at: https://www.epa.gov/safepestcontrol/why-we-use-pesticides [Accessed 22 Sep. 2020].
3. Bretveld, Reini W, Chris, T., Paul, Zielhuis, Gerhard A and Roeleveld, N. (2006). Pesticide exposure: the hormonal function of the female reproductive system disrupted? Reproductive biology and endocrinology: RB&E, [online] 4, pp.30–30. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1524969/.
4. Kotta-Loizou, I. and Robert (2017). Studies on the virome of the entomopathogenic fungus beauveria bassiana reveal novel dsRNA elements and mild hypervirulence. PLOS Pathogens, [online] 13, pp.1–19. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1006183.
5. Majeed, A., 2018. Application of Agrochemicals in Agriculture: Benefits, Risks and Responsibility of Stakeholders. J Food Sci Toxicol, 2(1.3).
6. Roeleveld, N. and Bretveld, R. (2008). The impact of pesticides on male fertility. Current opinion in obstetrics & gynecology, 20, pp.229–33.
7. Perry, M.J. (2008). Effects of environmental and occupational pesticide exposure on human sperm: a systematic review. Hum Reprod Update, [online] 14(3), pp.233–242. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/humupd/dmm039 [Accessed 2020 9AD].
8. Brush, G.J., Clemes, M.D. and Christopher (1997). The impact of attitude, information, situation, and behavior on problem recognition: The agrichemical training debate. Agribusiness, [online] 13(1), pp.45–58. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)15206297(199701/02)13:1<45::AIDAGR5>3.0.CO;2N [Accessed 27 Sep. 2020].
