Is birth control in our water supply affecting fertility rates?
Dozens of Republican lawmakers signed a letter last week asking Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin to investigate whether birth control pills in our water supply are affecting fertility rates.
According to the letter, 2023 saw at least 648,500 medication abortions. Most, if not all, medication abortions are done by ingesting the abortion pill mifepristone. Research going back to 1996 indicates that mifepristone "may enter the environment from excretion by patients, from disposal of pharmaceutical waste, or from emissions from manufacturing sites.”
“We request that the EPA study the impact of the ‘byproducts’ of mifepristone, such as the active metabolites that are entering our nation’s water system and threatening access to safe drinking water,” the letter read.
“Furthermore, mifepristone is a potent progesterone blocker that disrupts hormonal balance in pregnant women to induce abortion. This raises questions about the drug’s potential endocrine-disrupting effects when present in drinking water supplies. If residual amounts of the drug and its metabolites persist in wastewater, prolonged exposure could potentially interfere with a person’s fertility, regardless of sex. We believe it is reckless to allow a known progesterone blocker to be flushed into America’s drinking water without knowing definitively if it impacts fertility rates.”
The letter was signed by five senators and 21 House representatives, led by Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) and Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-OK).
“We recognize that the greatest tragedy of every abortion is the murder of the innocent,” Rep. Breechen told The Daily Wire. “But we are also concerned that activist bureaucrats overlooked real public health risks posed by mifepristone in their crusade to expand abortion access. With chemical abortion now the most common abortion method in America, the public deserves answers about how these potent hormone disruptors affect our water supply and contribute to our nation’s rising infertility rates.”
If the lawmaker’s suspicions are correct, mifepristone will not be the only chemical affecting fertility rates through the water supply.
Pesticides
A 2023 study found that pesticides, known to contaminate water supplies, have contributed to a 50% drop in sperm count in men worldwide over the last 50 years. The researchers conducted a meta-analysis looking at 1,774 men across 20 studies and 21 study populations. They were specifically looking for any impact on male fertility from organophosphates (OPs) and N-methyl carbamates (NMCs), two of the most common insecticides. They found a high association between the insecticides and low sperm concentration, with OPs appearing to be even more dangerous than NMCs.
In another study, researchers from the University of California, Berkeley found that three-quarters of male frogs exposed to atrazine began producing less sperm and less testosterone. Not only did the frogs experience lower fertility, many sought to mate with males instead of females. Ten percent of the frogs exposed to atrazine became females producing viable eggs.
“Atrazine-exposed males were both demasculinized (chemically castrated) and completely feminized as adults,” wrote the researchers.
Approximately 80 million pounds of atrazine are used in the US every year. It is found on crops and has been repeatedly detected in the country’s water supply.
