Tag Archives: contraceptives

Contraceptive Properties of Fluoride

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Fluoride May Be Your Next Contraceptive?

By Dr. Mercola

Story at-a-glance

  • Research has linked fluoride in drinking water with sperm damage and other threats to reproductive health
  • Fluoride may have damaging effects on the process by which sperm are attracted toward an egg (sperm chemotaxis), which plays a critical role in allowing fertilization to occur
  • Sixty animal studies have found that fluoride adversely impacts the male reproductive system
  • Clean pure water is a prerequisite for optimal health. Industrial chemicals, drugs and other toxic additives like fluoride really have no place in our water supplies

In the US, where about two-thirds of drinking water supplies are fluoridated, men may be putting their fertility at risk with every sip of water from the tap.

Research has long linked fluoride in drinking water with sperm damage and other threats to reproductive health, although many Americans remain completely in the dark about the association.

Yet, most of the studies on fluoride use sodium fluoride, which while extremely toxic is pharmaceutical-grade fluoride — NOT the kind added to water supplies. So researchers set out to determine the toxicity of the fluoride compounds that are actually in most water supplies. Here’s what they found…

Fluoride in Drinking Water May Be Toxic to Sperm

First a bit of background… sodium fluoride was the first of the fluoride waste materials to be used for fluoridation, but now is rarely used. It’s the most well known, as this is ‘pharmaceutical grade’ compound used in toxicology studies and other research into the potential health dangers of fluoride.

The other two types of fluoride, sodium silicofluoride and hydrofluorosilicic acid, are the compounds actually used for water fluoridation. Sodium silicofluoride and hydrofluorosilicic acid are the waste products from the fertilizer industry and are actually classified as hazardous wastes.

The new study compared the toxicity of three fluoride compounds – sodium fluoride and two silicofluorides used for water fluoridation – to determine their effect on the growth, feeding and reproduction of roundworms. They found:1

“Exposure to these compounds produced classic concentration-response toxicity profiles… This suggests that silicofluorides have similar toxicity to NaF [sodium fluoride].”

Since sodium fluoride appears to be equally toxic as the fluoride chemicals added to drinking water, it raises serious concern about another recent study, which found sodium fluoride may damage sperm chemotaxis, the process by which sperm are attracted toward an egg, which plays a critical role in allowing fertilization to occur.2 Though this study involved mice, if the findings apply to humans it could put men at risk of becoming infertile…

Fluoride May Be Dangerous to Male Fertility

Past research, too, has shown that fluoride has potentially disastrous effects on the male reproductive system. The Fluoride Action Network (FAN) reported:3

  • Exposing ram semen to 0.38 parts per million (20 umol/L) of fluoride for five hours caused a “statistically significant decrease in the motility of spermatozoa” along with other changes that would “undoubtedly affect the physiological function of the sperm.”
  • Infusing testes with modest amounts of fluoride (4.75 parts per million) inhibited the synthesis of testosterone
  • Sixty animal studies have found that fluoride adversely impacts the male reproductive system, including:
Decreases in testosterone levels Reduced sperm motility Altered sperm morphology
Reduced sperm quantity Increased oxidative stress Reduced capacity to breed

 

It’s not only animal studies that have shown an emerging problem, however. As FAN explained:4

“Consistent with the in vitro and animal research, studies of human populations have reported associations between fluoride exposure and damage to the male reproductive system. Most notably, a scientist at the Food & Drug Administration [FDA] reported in 1994 that populations in the United States with more than 3 ppm fluoride in their water had lower  ‘total fertility rates’ than populations with lower fluoride levels …

While 3 ppm is a higher concentration than used in water fluoridation programs (0.7 to 1.2 ppm), it is still considered a ‘safe’ level by the EPA. To date, no U.S. health agency has attempted to replicate… [these] findings.

However, three studies of highly fluoride-exposed populations in China and India have found that high fluoride exposure is associated with reduced male fertility. In addition, five studies from China, India, Mexico, and Russia have found that high-fluoride exposure is associated with reduced male testosterone levels.”

Fluoride Is an Undeniable Poison to Your Entire Body

to read more, go to:    http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/10/29/fluoride-reproductive-health-dangers.aspx?e_cid=20131029Z1_DNL_art_2&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art2&utm_campaign=20131029Z1

Roundup as a Contraceptive?

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Again, do your research:

Is It Time To Acknowledge Roundup Herbicide As A Contraceptive?

herbacide-contraceptive31st July 2013

By Sayer Ji

Contributing Writer for Wake Up World

How much longer will we deny the growing body of research linking Roundup to infertility before calling this chemical a contraceptive?

Following closely on the heels of the EPA’s decision to allow Roundup herbicide residues in your food at concentrations a million times higher than shown carcinogenic, a concerning new study published in the journal Free Radical Medicine & Biology implicates the herbicide, and its main ingredient glyphosate, in male infertility, at concentration ranges well within the EPA’s “safe level” for food.[1]

Performed by Brazilian researchers, the study found acute Roundup exposure at low doses (36ppm, 0.036g/L) for 30 minutes induced cell death in Sertoli cells in prepubertal rat testis.  Sertoli cells are known as “mother” or “nurse” cells within the testicles, as they are responsible for maintaining the health of sperm cells, and are required for normal male sexual development.

Roundup herbicide exposure was found to induce oxidative stress and to activate multiple-stress response pathways within affected cells, and was associated with an increase in intracellular calcium (Ca2+) concentration leading to Ca2+ overload, and cell death.

Thirty minute incubation tests with glyphosate alone (36 ppm) also increased Ca2+ uptake, and both Roundup and glyphosate were observe to downregulate reduced glutathione levels. As glutathione is an antioxidant (electron donor) found within every cell in the human body, protecting it against oxidative stress, as well as maintaining a wide range of biochemical reactions such as DNA and protein synthesis and repair, amino acid transport, prostaglandin synthesis, amino acid and enzyme activation, a dysregulation of glutathione can result in a wide range of adverse effects.

The researchers noted

Glyphosate has been described as an endocrine disruptor affecting the male reproductive system; however, the molecular basis of its toxicity remains to be clarified. We could propose that Roundup® toxicity, implicating in Ca2+ overload, cell signaling misregulation, stress response of the endoplasmic reticulum and/or depleted antioxidant defenses could contribute to Sertoli cell disruption of spermatogenesis that could impact male fertility.

This study adds to a growing body of research implicating Roundup herbicide in male infertility:

  • A 2007 study published in the journal Reproductive Toxicology found that Roundup herbicide altered the structure of the testis and epididymal region (part of the tubular spermatic duct system), as well as the serum levels of testosterone and estradiol, in male ducks, leading the researchers to conclude that Roundup “…may cause disorder in the morphophysiology of the male genital system of animals.”[2]
  • A 2010 male rat study published in the Archives of Toxicology revealed prepubertal exposure to commercial formulation of the herbicide glyphosate alters testosterone levels and testicular morphology, leading researchers to describe the herbicide as “a potent endocrine disruptor.”[3]
  • A 2011 male rat study published in the Archives of Toxicology revealed maternal exposure to glyphosate disturbed the masculinization process and promoted behavioral changes and histological and endocrine problems in reproductive parameters.[4]
  • A 2011 study published in the journal Toxicology In Vitro found a glyphosate-based herbicide induced necrosis and apoptosis in mature rat testicular cells in vitro, and testosterone decrease at lower levels.[i] In the study, Roundup and glyphosate at concentrations as low as 1 part per million produced a testosterone decrease in sperm cells by 35%.
  • A more recent 2013 study in male rats published in the journal Ecotoxicology and Reproductive Safety found glyphosate (in combination with another pesticide) provoked severe oxidative stress in male testes, resulting in inhibited testosterone production and disrupted gonadotropin levels.[5]

Given the growing body of research clearly revealing Roundup’s toxicity to the germline of animal species, the argument can be made that this chemical has contraceptive properties and therefore genocidal consequences. By directly affecting the biologically immortal cells within the testes, whose DNA contains over 3 billion years worth of information essential for there being a future for our species as a whole, Roundup should be considered an instrument of mass destruction. At the very least, the precautionary principle should be applied, and any chemical that signals the potential to disrupt or destroy our species’ germline cells, should be banned unless the manufacturer can prove beyond a reasonable doubt its safety to exposed populations.

For additional research on the wide spectrum of adverse health effects now linked to glyphosate-based herbicide formulations such as Roundup, view our research articles on GMOs, as well as view and download our free biomedical PDF on glyphosate/Roundup research.

Article Resources

from:    http://wakeup-world.com/2013/07/31/is-it-time-to-acknowledge-roundup-herbicide-as-a-contraceptive/