Too Many Boys or Not Enough?

Photo Credit: Rod Moser

I was so happy that my first child was a beautiful daughter. Since I had two brothers growing up and more uncles that I can count, I though it was unlikely that I would produce a daughter. Even the ultrasound technician informed us that she was a he. My next (biological) child was a son, and tomorrow, my son's wife will deliver my grandson. When I remarried, my new wife had three sons, so we raised a total of four boys and a one girl. In my own microcosm, there was no shortage of boys.

There are two more new babies on the way among our friends, and both are boys. Knowing that the world may only be able to handle so many penises, I was wondering why there are so many boys being born, so I did a little research. Guess what? There are fewer boys being born than ever before - a troubling statistic that is puzzling researchers. No one really has the answer.

According to some authorities, like the Environmental Health Perspectives, there has been a 28-30% drop in male births since the 1970's. From 1970 to 2002, there were 135,000 fewer boys born in the U.S. than expected, or 17 fewer males per 10,000 births. Similar drops in male births rates have also been found in other industrialized nations, including Japan and several European countries.

Photo Credit: Rod Moser

It's not good to question Mother Nature, but an explanation would be nice. Since boys are indeed the "weaker sex" since we die sooner and are more likely to be killed in accidents (or wars), why has Mother Nature decided that we need more girls and less boys now? Apparently after World War II, there was an increase in male births, thought by some to be replacement males for the millions lost during the war.

There are lots of theories on the table. Maybe the drop in male sperm counts and semen volume is related to global warming? Since spermatogenesis requires cooler testicles, maybe the rising temperatures are cooking the gonads, or perhaps it is the heat created by laptop computers? One study said that the more we have sex, the more likely we will produce a male offspring. Apparently, we are not having sex as much since the hippie days.

The economy sucks and kids are expensive, so having smaller families (perhaps with fewer boys) is an economic decision of the times. My grandmother had 13 children (mostly boys), long before there was public assistance. They lived on a farm and were well-fed. When my grandmother passed away in the 1970's, she had about sixty-some grandchildren and great-grandchildren. My grandfather must have been quite active in the sack - not bad for a chain-smoking, heavy-drinking, coal miner. Of course, kudos to Grandma, too.

Smoking has been linked to a decrease in male births in both the U.S. and Japan. Cigarettes are loaded with a frightening array of cancer-causing chemicals, pesticides, and other substances of unknown risk. Maybe if my grandfather had not smoked, he would have even more kids. My father was a smoker who died at age 39 of lung cancer. He produced two boys; my older brother and me. Are the cigarettes different now, or is it something else?

Photo Credit: Rod Moser

Diet has been linked to lower male birth rates. Our diets are certainly different since the 1970's. Fast-food establishments were fewer and we all seemed to eat at home. We ate tuna that may or may not have had mercury, and we drove cars with lead additives. We all ate peanut butter. We may have bought houses on land contaminated by dioxin or asbestos, perhaps even under power lines. There were pesticides like DDT on our store-bought foods and we had more hidden radiation exposure than we really knew. Maybe the drop in sperm quality and the drop in male births are due to our underwear? Fertility experts have recommended boxers (or going commando) instead of briefs for years. I am not having any more kids, so I think I will keep my tightie-whities.

There is a link with stress and the number of male births. Apparently, the more stressed we become, the more girls that are born. The more girls that are born, the more stressed men become. Of course, this is just my theory, but some studies have shown that after major stress-causing catastrophes, there are more girls being born than boys.

Today, the news stories were filled with salmonella outbreaks from peanut butter this time, not eggs and pet turtles. Apparently, we are either dirtier or less-caring about the quality of our food products, since this is not the only contaminants in our food that we are facing. Last year, it was E.coli in everything from salsa to spinach. Could some super-bug be causing havoc in the reproductive department?

The 1970's was the height of the drug scene, or at least we thought it was the height. It is worse now, in my opinion. Perhaps all of the marijuana, laced with pesticides, or the LSD, or the mushrooms did something to the reproductive system? Now, we have "designer" recreational drugs, and even prescription drugs that keep getting recalled due to newly-discovered side effects, like diarrhea or death...or even worse, death FROM diarrhea.

Photo Credit: Rod Moser

For some reason, we did not have autistic children when I was young. Perhaps they were there and we called them something else, like "special", but something has triggered this frightening epidemic. No, and it isn't the MMR vaccine either! I am absolutely sure the vaccine is safe, but I am suspicious about everything else. I don't know what causes autism. Some thing(s), perhaps some undiscovered genetic aberration, is causing or triggering autism. Please don't post comments with your vaccine and autism stories. You will not convince me with anecdotal stories. Until ONE scientific study (and there have been HUNDREDS) establishes a link between the MMR and autism, I am going to keep recommending it. I KNOW what causes measles and I KNOW what measles can do. If we stop vaccinating, there will be a definite drop in our population, since both boys and girls will die again from this preventable (and terrible) illness. The MMR also contains the mumps vaccine. Mumps can cause sterility in males and females, by the way. Rubella is German measles (blamed on the Germans, of course) which caused more innumerable birth defects in past years.

If there is a shortage of boys, I haven't really experienced it. Based on the growing number of little boys that I see in my practice (and family), the number of circumcisions done in our office (I don't do them - I am not a proponent of this cosmetic procedure), I am doubtful. In my personal and clinical world, there seems to be plenty of penises. I don't really expect a serious shortage in the near future, but who knows?

Related Topics:

• Is Mom's Diet a Key to Her Baby's Sex?
• Deciding Baby's Sex