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I was with you right up until you mentioned cancer. We haven't understood cancer long enough to know what historical rates actually were, and even if we did, we
by TylerE 3y ago
I was with you right up until you mentioned cancer. We haven't understood cancer long enough to know what historical rates actually were, and even if we did, we wouldn't know for sure what a delta (or lack of delta) actually indicates.
Like, maybe microplastics are actually pretty cancerous, but overall cancer rates haven't changed that much because as plastics became commonplace, we were getting away from exposure to things like radium and asbestos.
- AnthonyMouse 3y agoBut the same is true of all of the other things. Maybe sperm count is actually decreasing, maybe it's just staying the same because microplastics make it worse but getting away from exposure to things like radium and lead and mercury make it better. The best you can say is that we don't know, not that we know it doesn't.
- TylerE 3y agoSperm count you can at least approximate by looking at per-capita birthrates.
- freedomben 3y agoThat's a bad metric because there are many other things that can affect per-capita birthrates. There are birth control products that make it so even the most virile man with an explosive sperm count getting laid isn't going to result in a birth. People have have choosing less and less to have children, and deferring those choices to later in life, and I don't think that has anything to do with microplastics.