Nigerians say loudly to anyone who cares to listen that we are a blessed nation. One of our gifts is our population, well – may it continue to be so. We need to learn from the mistakes of people whose lifestyle and habits we are rapidly acquiring. I do not know how many people have heard of “the great British sperm disaster”. It is true that top scientists in Britain have discovered that sperm count in men have crashed. The trend is being closely monitored and it is a source of great concern.

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We do not engage in such monitoring here, but there is one thing I know that is becoming common, (just like in the United Kingdom) and that is the high incidence of prostrate gland and testes cancers. I first heard about the British sperm problem from an Iranian classmate who kept on joking about how they were going to need them to help propagate. I then observed that there were signs on the school notice boards, requesting for male volunteers for testing and monitoring.

One thing is sure, something is seriously affecting mankind’s development. Much research has been going into the probable cause of these fertility problems, as well as other linked problems. The findings have been instructive. It seems like modern day necessities are creating the dilemma we are currently in and individuals need to make strong personal efforts not to be affected.

Sperm killers include:

Pesticides: Pesticides are chemical compounds widely used to kill pests and are used in the food production chain. Some of us might have heard of organochlorine pesticides, such as, DDT, dieldrin, lindane, etc which farmers use to spray crops. The compounds are toxic and reduce fertility. Some of them have been banned e.g. DDT, but who will stop the farmer from using it here? They also mimic the female hormone oestrogen and is probably why some men have enlarged breasts. When organochlorine pesticides were banned, a new group called organophosphates were introduced. It is now known that they are not particularly better.

Herbicides and insecticides are also implicated in these toxic effects. They are sprayed on food to reduce infestation and food spoilage from insects like weevils, fungus, etc. When you see nice-looking, blemish free fruits, then know they might have been sprayed. The key is to reduce one’s exposure, by sticking to fruits that you have to peel before you eat them e.g. bananas, oranges, mangoes, pineapples, etc. You should also wash your vegetables very well before cooking, peel away the outer covering (e.g. cabbage), scrape your carrots and other such measures that reduce the amount of chemicals on the surface of food which you cook and ingest by default. Many men do not cook their own food, but they can tell their wives what they know and help to give guidelines on how it is to be cooked.

Plastics: These days, it is as if there was no life before plastics. They are an environmental and health nightmare! Nobody uses leaves to wrap food anymore. We ingest plastic residues when we eat food or take drinks that they are used to package. These residues include substances called alkylphenols and bisphenolics. A common source of such residues is “pure water” (especially after it has been outside in the sun and then refrigerated).

The plastic containers used to package pure water are not food grade containers and bad for your sperm count! To soften plastics like pure water nylon, cling film (popularly used for wrapping pounded yam, eba, etc), manufacturers use chemicals called plasticiers. The softer plastic is, the more susceptible it is to leach into food or drink. These plasticiers also have hormone-disrupting and feminizing effects. You may be surprised to find out that they even affect sexual programming in the unborn foetus!! Women are not spared, it has enormously increased the incidence of fibroids, breast cancers. NAFDAC on the health side and Lagos State government on the environmental side have warned people about the hazards of these plastics to no avail.

The more pure water you drink, the more unpure you become. I know that saying this is not going to make me popular, but the truth needs to be told, so that when people develop low sperm count or prostrate cancer, they will not say it is “home trouble” from the village.

The evolution of the use of cling films for wrapping food is particularly sad. Even five star hotels engage in this unwholesome practice. We have an abundance of Thaumatocus danielli, the plant whose leaves are traditionally used for wrapping (moin-moin wrapping leaves / ewe moin-moin). Developed cultures like the Japanese stick to these traditional wrapping methods because of their health advantage. Other peoples who use leaves to wrap food are still doing so are the Greeks, the Indonesians, the Philipinos, etc. The exciting thing is that the plant we use has a lot of other health giving advantages (that is a topic for another day).

As it is, I do not think that plastic manufacturers are required to disclose the types of chemicals they use in manufacturing. This means that we do not know the range of chemicals that are leached into our foods and drinks. Tips for avoiding unnecessary toxin load from plastics include;

-Do not microwave food in plastics, pour them into a ceramic container.

-Store water for drinking in traditional clay or ceramic water pots (used since biblical times) and use glass bottles or stainless steel for the fridge.

-Avoid food or drinks wrapped in plastic, especially hot or fatty food.

Modern Diet/ Fat attack: A lot of toxins in food accumulate in fat. If chicken, fish or cows are treated with hormones, insecticides, antibiotics or other chemicals while rearing them, these chemicals end up in the fat. Such chemicals include, dioxin (some people may remember the Belgian dioxin-chicken saga), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), etc.

These chemicals are a part of the modern food chain. The more processed, package and chemically treated food you eat, the more your exposure. The more susceptible your health and fertility is. Decreasing fat load is a good option. Remove the skin of chicken, if you must use milk choose the skimmed one, grill you meat and chicken instead of frying (this will help to reduce the fat instead of adding to it). Choose fresh food over package food, e.g. fresh vegetables.