These chemicals shrink men's penises and are bad for their health. Yet we are exposed to them daily through cosmetics and other products
They are everywhere among us. However, we are not referring to alien beings, but to phthalates (i.e. phthalic acid esters). They are used as plasticizers in plastics, making them flexible, strong, transparent and durable. Not only do we come into contact with phthalates every day, but we even absorb them into our bodies - without necessarily having to literally chew on plastic lunch boxes or at least soda bottles. In fact, phthalates are also found in a wide range of cosmetic products such as shampoos, deodorants, perfumes and hairsprays, as well as in cleaning products and even food. And since phthalates have the characteristic property of not being tightly bound to the material, they are released into their surroundings. And we humans - unless we live completely outside civilisation - absorb these harmful chemicals into our bodies today and every day.
Whether through the mucous membranes after using cosmetic products, or even through food that has come into contact with packaging materials containing phthalates, phthalates enter the human body "from all sides". They are even present in the air, so we breathe them in. While it is true that up to ninety percent of these pollutants can be eliminated by the body in a single day, the rest accumulate in the body. And in addition to a range of side effects (from eczema and asthma to increased risk of certain cancers and the development of hyperactivity in children), phthalates in the body cause men's penises to shrink.
Chemicals don't just kill sperm, they shrink penises
It is undeniable that the modern way of life is taking its toll on humanity, but unfortunately, this condition is also affecting health. Not long ago, Dr. Shanna Swan, head of the Center for Reproductive Epidemiology at the University of Rochester, warned that exposure to chemicals was causing male sperm to commit "mass suicide." She then backed up this claim with data on declining male fertility - and the fact is that research has confirmed that the number of active sperm in male semen has declined by as much as half in the last few decades. Now, however, Dr Swan is suggesting that it is the chemicals we come into contact with every day that are causing penis shrinkage in men and also genital deformities in newborns.
Dr. Swan's book, Count Down, therefore, focuses on how the modern world is changing the reproductive development of both men and women and, as a result, threatening the future of the human race. Indeed, according to Swan, humanity is already facing an existential crisis. Phthalates are to blame, as they not only affect fertility but also the endocrine system, which is responsible for hormone production in the human body. And that's why, according to Swan, more and more boys are being born with increasingly smaller penises (and genitals more like women's...), and also boys who have problems with descending testicles.
Phthalate syndrome
As it happens with research, it all started in rats. It was on them that Dr. Swan began to study the so-called phthalate syndrome - if rat fetuses were exposed through their mothers to the aforementioned chemicals, they were highly likely to be born with reduced genitalia (compared to rats that were not exposed to phthalates), or significantly reduced anogenital distance, used in rodents to determine the degree of "maleness" and also to determine sex. However, it is not far from the genitals of rats to the penises of men. And so Swan found that newborn boys who were exposed to phthalates in their mothers' wombs showed the same characteristics as the previous "rat sample".
Although Dr. Swan herself also cautioned in the context of publishing her research that the results cannot yet be considered fully representative - pending verification by other independent researchers - she also said that people should be able to tell on product packaging that they contain phthalates. This is not often the case - cosmetic products in particular contain phthalates, for example in their fragrances, without specifically mentioning them.
Why aren't you bigger?
...this is a question that many men, apart from "Hannah Song", ask themselves in a completely different context. And, as various studies suggest, it is not necessarily only exposure to harmful substances while still in the mother's body that affects penis size (although it is true that this is a factor that causes "damage" that is quite irreversible). Indeed, even during life, men themselves can contribute quite actively to the size - or rather smallness - of their penises. Leaving aside the irreversible biological processes (e.g. ageing, when the penis gets less blood flow and thus appears smaller, and possibly also medication - especially medication for depression, hyperactivity and to treat an enlarged prostate - which can actually make the penis smaller), there are other factors that affect penis size.
The main one is smoking - for, as research from the UK, for example, has shown that the penises of smokers are demonstrably smaller during erection (by up to a centimetre!) than the penises of those who are strangers to tobacco products. This is due to damage to the vascular system, where the penis fails to erect sufficiently. Weight also influences the visible size of the penis - every 15 kilograms overweight means a reduction of 2 to 3 cm (the penis does not actually shrink in this case, of course, but the fat layer surrounds the root of the penis, making it appear smaller, and in the case of morbidly obese men, the fat can "wrap around" most of the penis). So it is clear that a healthy lifestyle is the key. And this is actually also true with regard to the phthalates mentioned. Is it any surprise that, for example, climate activist Greta Thunberg, who fights for sustainability and ecology, just shared a report on "phthalate" shrinking penises with a remark directed at (ecologically inactive compared to women) men: "see you at the next climate strike"?
