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Medical Expert Says that Contraceptive Pill is Causing Global Rise in Male Infertility

Writing for the Vatican's L'Osservatore Romano, doctor cites growing medical evidence

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

VATICAN CITY, January 7, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - An eminent doctor writing for the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano has stated that hormones from the contraceptive pill are causing a significant rise in male infertility in western nations.

Pedro Jose Maria Simon Castellvi, President of the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations (FIAMC), writes that "we have sufficient data to affirm that one of the reasons for the not insignificant rise in male infertility in the west (due to increasingly fewer sperm in men), is the environmental contamination caused by 'the pill'."

"We are confronted with a clear anti-ecological effect that demands further explanation from the manufacturers," continued Castellvi, who also noted that the abortifacient and carcinogenic effects of the contraceptive pill are also well known (see LifeSiteNews coverage at http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jan/09010504.html).

Castellvi's statements echo similar utterances made by numerous other medical and scientific experts since 2004.  Female hormones from birth control pills, which enter the water supply through urination, are being blamed for declining sperm counts in human and animal populations, the growth of female sex organs in male fish, breast growth in young men, and early onset of puberty in young girls.

In September of last year, a scientist at the University of Montreal's Department of Chemistry announced the discovery that Montreal's water treatment plant was dumping estrogen products into rivers at a level 90 times the critical amount, a level far beyond the minimum for disrupting the fertility of fish.

Last week, Mexico's Secretariat of Health issued a warning that use of the contraceptive pill during pregnancy could raise the risk of "genital ambiguity," also known as hermaphrodism, in newborns.

"The sad thing about this is that, if we are talking about the regulation of fertility, these products are not necessary," writes Castellvi, noting that Natural Family Planning methods, which involve abstaining from sexual intercourse during the fertile period of a woman's monthly cycle, "are just as effective and furthermore they respect the nature of the person."

Despite mounting evidence indicating the harmful effects of artificial hormones on the environment, the French Press Agency reported that Castellvi's statements were "promptly dismissed by several organizations," which claimed that female hormones are present "everywhere" and change once they are digested. 

Castellvi's statements are supported by a report recently issued by FIAMC, which he says contains more than 300 source citations, the majority of which are from medical publications. His article appeared in the January 4th issue of L'Osservatore Romano.

Related Links:

Estrogen 'Flooding Our Rivers,' Montreal Study Finds
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080918170628.htm

Male fish becoming female?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6436617/

Hormones in water blamed as more men seek breast reduction
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article549956.ece

Secretariat of Health Alert Regarding Genital Ambiguity (Spanish)
http://www.elfinanciero.com.mx/ElFinanciero/Portal/cfpages/contentmgr.cfm?docId=...

Original L'Osservatore Romano article: L’«Humanae vitae» Una profezia scientifica (Italian)
http://tuespetrus.wordpress.com/2009/01/03/l%C2%ABhumanae-vitae%C2%BB-una-profez...

Previous LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Study Confirms Estrogen in Water from the Pill Devastating to Fish Populations
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/feb/08021805.html

Hormonal Contraceptives Pollute Drinking Water - Environmentalists Turn a Blind Eye
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jul/07071105.html

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