Chemical Pollution: Causing Shortage of Sons in Canada
Harmful effects of pollution are innumerable...but I didn't know that pollution outside can have ill effects even inside the womb of a pregnant mother. Yes, this is a fact. Aamjiwnaang,in Canada is facing a severe imbalance in the sex ratio.For every two girls born in the community there is just one boy.
The number of boy babies is far less in comparison to that of the female babies born here. And this is being regarded as precisely the effect of chemicals, since nearly half century Canada has the largest concentration of petrochemical manufacturing.
Biologist Michael Gilbertson,explained that certain pollutants, including many found on the Aamjiwnaang reserve, could interfere with the sex ratio of newborns in a population. Heavy metals have been shown to affect sex ratio by causing the miscarriage of male fetuses. Other pollutants known as endocrine disrupters -- including dioxin and PCBs -- can wreak all sorts of havoc by interfering with the hormones that determine whether a couple will have a boy or a girl.
Other than the fall in the number of male babies, certain other complications like miscarriages or babies born with physical or mental abnormalities is a common sight here. And babies, who tend to live, have a hard life to face for they are either countered by asthma or some other kind of infections...all thanks to the chemical pollution. The plain is so much worried by this trend that they had even thought to vacate the place and migrate else where. It is hardly a place where they could rest in peace.
