Does Pollution Cause More Girls to be Born than Boys?

By Alex in Baby & Kids, Health on May 28, 2008 at 2:11 am

Something strange is happening on the Aamjiwnaang First Nation reservation in Canada, just across the border from Michigan: many more girls are being born than boys, and the reason might be toxic pollution …

The steepest sex ratio declines observed in the world have occurred on the 3,000-acre Aamjiwnaang (pronounced AH-jih-nahng) First Nation reservation in Canada.

The ratio of boys to girls there began dropping in the early 1990s, according to data published in 2005 in Environmental Health Perspectives. Between 1999 and 2003, researchers found, only 46 boys were born out of 132 recorded births.

"You get angry and you get worried, thinking what could be causing this," said Ada Lockridge, a member of the tribe who compiled the data and has since become an activist. "And then you want to learn more."

Dozens of petrochemical, polymer and chemical plants border the reservation on three sides. Mercury and PCBs contaminate the creek that runs through the land, and air-quality studies show the highest toxic releases in Canada, said Jim Brophy, executive director of Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers, based in Sarnia, the nearest city.

Several months ago, Brophy and co-worker Margaret Keith did additional calculations, finding that boys made up only 42 percent of the 171 babies born from 2001 to 2005 to Aamjiwnaang living on the reserve or nearby.

"A disruption in the sex ratio of this magnitude has to be taken seriously," Brophy said.

Link (Photo: Heather Stone / Tribune)

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Retrokatze
May 28th, 2008 at 8:50 am
Makes up for alle the girls that get aborted or killed in India/China.

The rest of the article is interesting, too:

“Still, there is no proof that pollution is responsible, and data from surrounding Lambton County don’t show a similar impact. The findings represent a “short period of time and a small population” and require further study, said Dean Edwardson, general manager of the Sarnia-Lambton Environmental Association, which represents area industry.

Experts note other factors might include diet, alcohol use, smoking and occupational exposures. [...]“

They should probably do something about all those toxins anyway…
L
May 28th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Maybe it’s nature’s way of keeping things at 50/50. As Retrokatze said, some cultures get rid of their girls. So it may be that there will be pockets of higher girl to boy ratios popping up here and there to offset that.

Although, what the mechanism behind that would be is anyone’s guess.
donna
May 28th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Could be a lack of protein in the mother’s diets, which can influence the sex of the child.

But yes, we need to get rid of the toxins in our environment and dispose of them in a better way.
Evilbeagle
May 28th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
I’m all for ridding the environment of toxins, and that’s all well and good, but I think it’s a bit of a stretch to blame them for the boy/girl ratio.
Suzie
May 28th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
42% male- and this ratio is coming from no more than 300 births in a 6 year period (the dates overlap). I dont understand the concern. Is having 58% girls some horrible devistating thing?
If they had 58% kids with downs syndrome or autism, that would be something to worry about. But having healthy female daughters??
I am going to put my fema-nazi hat on for one moment…
By all means, clean up the pollution- but the implication that their daughters gender is a birth defect is just wrong.
Wold they complian if they had 58% male children?
Lea
May 28th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Kind of off topic, but kind of not, I read something where estrogen or other hormones pumped into water by labs and chemical companies can cause feminized fish and even some evidence of it in humans (though low instances). I wonder if this is even true, but if so, is it related?
Elliander
Jul 22nd, 2009 at 3:05 pm
In Canada, if a Full Blooded native woman marries a non native man, she looses native status. So in practice, if very few native men are being born compared to native women, there is the very real chance that within a few generations there won’t be anyone left on the reservation recognized as a native since native status follows the male line and no males means no native status.

So I really don’t expect any Government would do anything about it even if it is confirmed to be from toxins. The Canadian Government has an interest in this happening.
jollyollie
Jul 22nd, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Maybe this is just the more subtle method of getting rid of Natives. The whole ‘Residential School’ shebang didn’t turn out too well.

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