Nature review: The decline in human fertility may be related to fossil fuels

Since ancient times, the population problem has always been related to the stability of human society, and population expansion or insufficient population will eventually lead to social turmoil or even collapse

However, since the Industrial Revolution, human science and technology have advanced by leaps and bounds, productivity has been unprecedentedly improved, and the world's population has also grown rapidly

Although the global population has reached an all-time high of 7.

At the same time, the process of industrialization has brought about the burning of a large amount of fossil fuels

Recently, researchers from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark published a review article entitled "Environmental factors in declining human fertility" in the journal Nature Reviews Endocrinology

The core conclusions of this paper include:

1.

2.

3.

4.

Many previous studies have found that fossil fuels are present in human blood, urine, semen, breast milk and adipose tissue

Many of the pollutants produced by the burning of fossil fuels are endocrine disruptors, which means they can interfere with hormone secretion and harm reproductive health

Professor Andreas Kortenkamp of Brunel University in the United Kingdom is studying and analyzing the degradation of sperm quality caused by chemical exposure and has determined which chemicals have the greatest impact

Most of the worrying chemicals come from the burning of plastics during plastic production or waste incineration

In the future, we must establish a link between oil and natural gas, carbon dioxide emissions and chemical pollution

In July 2020, researchers from the University of Washington published a research paper in the top international medical journal "Lancet" (Lancet), showing that the global total fertility rate is steadily declining.

With the general decline in fertility, the world population is expected to reach a peak of around 9.

At the same time, the proportion of the world's labor force, the economic development of various countries, and free immigration will all undergo earth-shaking changes
.

Asia, Central Europe, and Eastern Europe will become the regions with the fastest population shrinkage, and the population of 23 countries and regions including China, Japan, South Korea, and Italy will be reduced to half of their original population
.

Original search:

https:// class="wp-block-separator is-><hr class="wp-block-separator is->