Educational Media Reviews Online

Originally a CBC broadcast, The Disappearing Male looks at the sobering statistics and consequences of environmental toxins on human males. Declining fertility, declining male birth rates, and increasing miscarriages of male babies led researchers to investigate these abnormalities. A direct link was found between chemicals in our environment, most notably thalates and polycarbonates, and impact on the male sex hormones.

The film explores the impact on the male hormonal system and asks why we keep producing known toxins for use in our everyday lives. The feminization of male alligators in the heavily polluted lakes of central Florida is one of the biological indicators scientists have been studying for years. The reproductive rate of the alligators is 90% below normal and the sexual organs of males are 1/3 their natural size. Why wouldn’t these chemicals also affect humans?

According to the film, almost 85% of all the chemicals produced are not tested. Of those that are, many are known endocrine disruptors. The rapid rise in the production of chemicals in the past 50 years has created a world full of untested chemicals in practically everything we touch. What will the effects be in another generation? No one knows for sure, but scientists believe the current impact on baby boys and the male population in general may very well be signaling the extinction of our species.

The First Nations reservation near Sarnia Ontario has been keeping statistics on their declining male births. There was a gradual decline in the 1990s, and then from 1999 to 2003 a very sharp decline occurred. Sarnia is home to 40% of Canada’s chemical industry. The chemicals responsible all come from fossil fuels, and the disproportionately adverse affect on males in Canada is now a global phenomenon. There are 3 million fewer boys at the time this film was made in 2008, than in 1970.

Turning to governments roles in all of this, the film points out that the chemical lobby is one of the most powerful in North America, and studies refuting the scientific claims about environmental toxins are largely paid for by the chemical companies. The film takes aim at the marketing strategy of the companies that make everything from skin cream to plastic bottles. Even the chemical industry spokesman shown testifying before the U.S. Congress is made to seem quite pathetic in his attempts to explain their motives. With all this negative and downright scary information about the effects of chemicals on our male population, The Disappearing Male is biased, but the scientific evidence is hard to deny. The program ends with scientists explaining that the deluge of environmental chemicals will move us into the most rapid evolution ever recorded. Chemicals that are new to human biology will affect the genes that make it through to the next generations.

There are other films available on the effects of environmental chemicals, but this is a good synopsis of the current problem with male hormonal development and dwindling birth rates. It targets in particular DEHP in PVC vinyl as well as the polycarbonate bisphenol A and the public outcry over its use in baby bottles. It is recommended for junior high through college library collections that support environmental health and wellness. For more on environmental chemicals in Sarnia, Ontario, see the review of The Beloved Community.