Pollution in China’s most populated city is being blamed for a fertility crisis as the incidence of low sperm counts among its men reaches record levels.
Only a third of the semen at Shanghai's main sperm bank, run by Dr Li, currently meets World Health Organisation standards. And smog levels are rising.
City authorities warned schools to cancel outdoor activities as Shanghai’s air quality levels were reported to be twice as bad as those in Beijing on Thursday.
A 2012 study, coordinated by Dr Li, concluded that over the last ten years, worsening environmental conditions were keeping pace with the falling quality of sperm and aspermia, a condition that causes men to produce no semen at all.
A year ago, China's infertility rate stood at 12.5 per cent of people of childbearing age, according to China state news agency Xinhua. Twenty years ago it was just three per cent.
'When the environment is bad, sperm becomes “ugly” and even stops swimming,' Dr Li told the Post.
'To find out whether an eco-system is stable or not, just examine the sperm.' The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences has announced a five-year study into the connection between female infertility and pollution.
Meanwhile the Shanghai Morning Post urged its readers to lead greener lives in order to protect future generations. 'In the view of reproductive health experts, loving the earth means loving oneself and, what's more, loving the next generation.'
Article: 7th November 2013 www.dailymail.co.uk
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