WEBVTT - #1916 The Sperm-Decapitating Parasite - Dr. Bill Sullivan 0:00:01.360 --> 0:00:03.920 Doctor Bill, welcome back to the You Project, my friend. 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:07.520 How you doing, Craig, It's good to be back. 0:00:08.680 --> 0:00:11.360 We always love chatting with you. We won't go too 0:00:11.400 --> 0:00:13.600 far down the rabbit hole like we did a minute ago, 0:00:13.760 --> 0:00:17.400 but we'll just I think I have to acknowledge that. 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:20.119 And of course everyone doctor Bill lives in the States. 0:00:19.800 --> 0:00:23.880 It's it's we'll just go with It's interesting times over there. 0:00:25.600 --> 0:00:28.800 Interesting is a good word, Yeah, well I would, I would, 0:00:28.920 --> 0:00:33.920 I would use bizarre world or chaos, but interesting it 0:00:34.120 --> 0:00:36.800 is a nice way to put it. Is there? 0:00:37.159 --> 0:00:39.519 What is them? I mean, I'm sure there's Let's do 0:00:39.600 --> 0:00:43.760 two minutes on this because I'm sure, especially my Australian 0:00:43.800 --> 0:00:46.280 listeners wouldn't mind an insight from somebody who's living in 0:00:46.320 --> 0:00:48.960 the middle of I don't know, I don't know what 0:00:49.400 --> 0:00:51.519 I was going to say, chaos, but you're probably not 0:00:51.600 --> 0:00:54.720 directly in the chaos, but kind of what's the most 0:00:54.800 --> 0:00:57.680 when you say bizarro world, what's the most bizarre to 0:00:57.760 --> 0:01:00.600 you just as a being in the middle or as 0:01:00.640 --> 0:01:03.520 an observer of it, But what just kind of blows 0:01:03.520 --> 0:01:05.039 your mind that's happening right now? 0:01:06.319 --> 0:01:09.200 Well, I still can't get my head wrapped around the 0:01:09.200 --> 0:01:12.600 fact that seventy million people in this country felt comfortable 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:16.600 putting a convicted felon who has a horrible track record 0:01:17.280 --> 0:01:23.160 of fraud and you know, malevolence and just abject cruelty 0:01:23.880 --> 0:01:26.880 into the office of the president, not to mention his 0:01:29.040 --> 0:01:34.480 you know, colossally poor intellect and judgment that is demonstrable. 0:01:34.520 --> 0:01:37.800 I mean, you can just investigate his history for this. 0:01:38.000 --> 0:01:42.039 You know, he lives in a different universe and it's 0:01:42.080 --> 0:01:45.360 not reality, it's not evidence based, and it's taking this 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:48.760 country right off a cliff to a point, a lawyer 0:01:48.840 --> 0:01:53.680 who is utterly unqualified to lead you know, human health 0:01:53.720 --> 0:01:58.160 services over here, which controls like our vaccine schedule and 0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:03.160 a whole slew of other really critical health decisions, is 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:06.680 just beyond the point of absurdity. I feel like I'm 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:09.519 living in some kind of towilight zone. I mean, a 0:02:09.600 --> 0:02:15.359 responsible leader just does not appoint these outrageously unqualified and 0:02:15.400 --> 0:02:20.280 downright dangerous people into positions of power like that He's 0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:21.680 going to get people killed. 0:02:22.760 --> 0:02:26.520 Yeah, wow, it's from us. I mean, we just see. 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:29.720 I think every country in the world is somewhat obsessed 0:02:30.000 --> 0:02:34.320 with America, and Australia is no different. I mean, if 0:02:34.320 --> 0:02:36.840 we're not talking about us, we're talking about you as 0:02:36.840 --> 0:02:41.839 he's probably everyone. But from the outside looking in, it's 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:44.680 I don't even know why, but even people in Australia 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:47.600 are like a bit scared. Some people a bit like 0:02:47.760 --> 0:02:52.519 are the world's the world spinning out of control? And 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:55.320 you know, there's always been a bit of like background 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:57.359 stuff going on and a bit of this sense, and 0:02:58.440 --> 0:03:02.079 you know, the outbreak here there, or a minor war 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:04.080 over here, not that there's such a thing as a 0:03:04.120 --> 0:03:06.680 minor war, but you know what I mean is and 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:09.200 but right now it just seems like the volume has 0:03:09.280 --> 0:03:13.480 been turned up on all the craziness like in the States, 0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:14.320 but everywhere. 0:03:15.480 --> 0:03:18.000 Yeah, it certainly seems that way, and I think that's 0:03:18.040 --> 0:03:23.120 by design. Like I said, every day there's multiple things 0:03:23.120 --> 0:03:27.360 happening that just don't make any sense or we're so outrageous, 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:30.240 you know, you can't believe someone just said that or 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:34.359 someone just did that, and there's no one saying anything 0:03:35.000 --> 0:03:38.160 to like normalize or get people back to what used 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:41.440 to be normal. It just seems like we're going more 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:45.480 and more closer to the edge. And yeah, I share 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:50.680 your concern about that. It's not a comfortable feeling. So yeah, 0:03:50.720 --> 0:03:52.360 it's it's pretty crazy times. 0:03:53.280 --> 0:03:56.120 Yeah, yeah, it's a challenge. It's a challenge for everyone. 0:03:56.240 --> 0:03:59.920 And it's even in Australia. It's not that, but it's. 0:04:00.320 --> 0:04:03.320 Australia is an interesting place right now. You may or 0:04:03.320 --> 0:04:05.119 may not know this, but we have the dearest real 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:09.560 estate in the world. Like it's it's like in Melbourne 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:13.480 where I live, to buy a property for the average 0:04:13.520 --> 0:04:16.000 young person, the average young couple that are twenty five, 0:04:16.160 --> 0:04:19.839 thirty thirty five, that just got married, whatever. For the 0:04:19.920 --> 0:04:23.479 average people, they'll never own a home outright. But you 0:04:23.640 --> 0:04:28.359 just can't, like a very in Melbourne. An average not 0:04:28.440 --> 0:04:30.599 a good, not a you know, I don't mean not good, 0:04:30.600 --> 0:04:35.400 but not nothing. Fancy you run in the mill three bedroom, 0:04:35.520 --> 0:04:38.640 one or two bathroom, maybe thirty forty fifty year old 0:04:38.640 --> 0:04:41.520 house is going to cost you one to one point 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:42.920 five million dollars. 0:04:43.440 --> 0:04:45.400 Wow, that's just insane. 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:46.320 Is that crazy? 0:04:46.600 --> 0:04:49.120 Is that causing a lot more people to rent instead 0:04:49.160 --> 0:04:50.080 of buying a home? 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:52.120 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, right. 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:54.839 Yeah, that's not good and that people can't save money 0:04:54.839 --> 0:04:55.440 that way. 0:04:56.440 --> 0:04:58.559 Where I live, which is not I mean, it's nice, 0:04:58.600 --> 0:05:01.200 but it's not you know, there are some fancy areas. 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:04.640 But down the road from literally five hundred meters from me, 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:08.040 they've just built this new apartment complex. We'll get off 0:05:08.040 --> 0:05:10.159 this in a minute, because we just sound like those 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:12.279 two old guys in the Muppets up in the bloody 0:05:12.920 --> 0:05:13.679 you know stands. 0:05:14.960 --> 0:05:17.839 But everybody loves those two craigs. Keeps done. 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:20.280 Yeah, well that's that's true. That's true. But just down 0:05:20.360 --> 0:05:25.000 the road from me, they've built these apartments and they 0:05:25.640 --> 0:05:28.240 start two bedroom apartments. There's two and three, but the 0:05:28.720 --> 0:05:32.200 cheapest apartment you can buy is two bedroom, and it 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:34.599 says it kicks off at between one and three and 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:37.960 one point four million dollars. These are the starting prices 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:42.440 for a two bedroom apartment, which is you know, I 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:47.120 don't know, probably eight squares or something like that, ten 0:05:47.160 --> 0:05:50.680 squares maybe, which is like a thousand square feet, you know, 0:05:50.839 --> 0:05:54.880 give or take. I mean, yeah, it's crazy, and it's 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:59.359 I think, I don't know, it's an interesting time for 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:03.640 the specie. It's like it's an interesting time for humanity. 0:06:03.880 --> 0:06:06.280 Like I'm wondering, one if we're going to be here 0:06:06.279 --> 0:06:09.400 in a hundred years, I don't know, and two if 0:06:09.400 --> 0:06:11.520 we are as a species here in one hundred years 0:06:11.880 --> 0:06:15.840 what they're going to be saying about this time in history, you. 0:06:15.800 --> 0:06:18.560 Know, right right, Well, yeah, I don't think it's going 0:06:18.600 --> 0:06:21.359 to be anything good. I think there's going to be 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:23.440 a lot of what the hell were they thinking? Well, 0:06:23.480 --> 0:06:26.920 you know, why were they being so stupid and ignoring 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:30.920 you know what scientists and experts are saying about the world, 0:06:31.320 --> 0:06:33.599 you know, the dangers that are in front of us, 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:39.360 and then just totally dismissing experts for for charlatans and 0:06:40.960 --> 0:06:45.760 you know, conspiracy theorists. It's just really difficult in this 0:06:45.880 --> 0:06:49.159 modern day and age to see this kind of medieval 0:06:50.560 --> 0:06:54.839 logic resurfacing. You know, it's just kind of it's downright scary, 0:06:54.880 --> 0:06:56.839 and if we don't get a handle on it, it could 0:06:56.920 --> 0:07:03.159 really spell disaster, a lot of suffering and death, very unnecessary. 0:07:04.000 --> 0:07:06.919 What scares me the most is the increasing inequality, and 0:07:06.960 --> 0:07:13.000 this is happening in all countries, where the very few 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:19.640 people who are just ridiculously wealthy are going to get 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:23.240 even wealthier at the expense of people who are trying 0:07:23.280 --> 0:07:26.440 to climb out of poverty or just hold their own 0:07:26.480 --> 0:07:30.920 in the middle class. I've studied quite a bit of 0:07:31.040 --> 0:07:35.920 history on this topic. And every civilization just prior to 0:07:36.040 --> 0:07:41.320 falling experience gross inequality that seemed to be one of 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:48.240 the key factors that was a telltale sign of societal collapse. 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:52.520 And it's getting worse every day. So we really need 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:57.640 to rein in this inequality that exists throughout the world 0:07:58.000 --> 0:08:01.520 and getting rid of these billionaires. Millionaires should not exist 0:08:02.120 --> 0:08:05.400 when we still have people who are starving in this world. 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:09.880 It's just such a gross, you know, distribution of the 0:08:09.880 --> 0:08:14.640 world's resources, and it just cannot be sustained. 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:21.160 It must frustrate you as I mean, you're a proper scientist. 0:08:21.240 --> 0:08:24.880 I'm not. I'm a summer pretend one. But it like 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:29.040 even for me on social media and people speaking out 0:08:29.080 --> 0:08:31.680 about stuff, so I kind of inhabit more the psychology 0:08:31.800 --> 0:08:35.160 or the more biology physiology. But when people come out 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:40.040 and they're saying essentially pop psychology bullshitty, you know, misleading 0:08:40.160 --> 0:08:44.679 things about whatever about psychology or human behavior or the mind, 0:08:45.040 --> 0:08:49.000 or they're trying to you know, they're talking about something significant, 0:08:49.200 --> 0:08:53.240 like you know, trauma or grief or and you know, 0:08:53.320 --> 0:08:56.839 some three step solution, and I roll my eyes. But 0:08:57.559 --> 0:09:00.680 the truth is that a lot of people don't know 0:09:00.720 --> 0:09:06.440 the difference between basically an Instagram post and science or 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:10.920 research or something that's you know, even people who so 0:09:11.000 --> 0:09:13.520 my other degree, as you know, is XI science. But 0:09:13.640 --> 0:09:16.120 people who will bring to me their supplements or their 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:19.720 you know, a food product and they'll, you know, because 0:09:19.760 --> 0:09:22.320 it's got some tick or some star on the front, 0:09:22.960 --> 0:09:25.720 this is good, right, And I'm like, no, let's turn 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:27.680 around and let's look at the back where the actual 0:09:27.720 --> 0:09:30.400 information is. And I have to say to people, so, 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:32.880 what's on the front. This is not information. This is 0:09:33.080 --> 0:09:34.920 a sales pitch to get you to pick it up 0:09:34.960 --> 0:09:38.200 and buy it, right, That's not that's not information. The 0:09:38.240 --> 0:09:41.640 information that they don't want you to see is around here. 0:09:41.679 --> 0:09:43.079 I don't know what it is in the state it's 0:09:43.080 --> 0:09:47.280 been in Australia. It's in the tiniest font that you 0:09:47.320 --> 0:09:50.720 can't read in the bottom right hand or left hand corner. 0:09:51.400 --> 0:09:54.240 That they try to make this thing as obscure as 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:56.200 possible because they don't want people to read it or 0:09:56.280 --> 0:09:59.160 understand it or know what they're actually putting in their body. 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:02.280 I feel like that's going on a lot, and not 0:10:02.440 --> 0:10:06.680 with just nutritional psychology or exercise, but across the board, 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:08.160 a version of that deception. 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:12.960 Yeah, and that's and that's that's really where it's at. 0:10:13.040 --> 0:10:17.320 It's a deception. And people who market and you know, 0:10:17.600 --> 0:10:21.439 profit from this stuff, they're the real villains. It's really 0:10:21.480 --> 0:10:25.640 easy to blame people for not thinking or critically evaluating 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:29.040 things because we have a lot of trust in the society. 0:10:29.080 --> 0:10:32.240 That's the way we're supposed to be functioning. But there's 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:35.120 a lot of cheaters, and one of the roles of 0:10:35.160 --> 0:10:40.760 government is to neutralize these cheaters. So the real problem 0:10:40.800 --> 0:10:44.440 comes back full circle to where we began this conversation, Craig, 0:10:44.520 --> 0:10:49.120 is when you put cheaters into government, you really are 0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:54.480 setting society up for an absolute disaster. And that's what 0:10:54.559 --> 0:10:55.800 we've done in this country. 0:10:57.720 --> 0:11:00.560 Yeah. Yeah, I don't know whether to make one maniac 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:03.119 steering this sheep. 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:08.800 Never is a good idea as a leader in politics, 0:11:08.920 --> 0:11:13.600 in business, or in academia. It's just bad news any 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:15.080 which way you try to slice it. 0:11:15.720 --> 0:11:21.079 M Well, speaking of bad news, Uh, speaking of bad news, 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:25.480 what about this article that you wrote, A common parasite 0:11:25.559 --> 0:11:33.320 can decapitate human sperm with implications? Well, male fertility and 0:11:33.400 --> 0:11:36.880 sperm count has been plumbing for decades, hasn't it, And 0:11:37.480 --> 0:11:41.240 so give us a synopsis of the article that you wrote, 0:11:41.240 --> 0:11:41.920 if you would doc. 0:11:43.160 --> 0:11:45.640 So, yeah, before we I'm going to get right into that, 0:11:45.720 --> 0:11:48.360 but I'm going to frame this as good news because 0:11:49.120 --> 0:11:52.240 we've learned something here. You know, these studies are telling 0:11:52.320 --> 0:11:55.640 us something important and there's things we can do to 0:11:55.800 --> 0:11:58.840 prevent getting this infection. So we're going to spin this as, hey, 0:11:58.880 --> 0:12:03.079 this is remarkable finding, disturbing, but remarkable, and now we 0:12:03.200 --> 0:12:04.600 know what to do. 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:08.600 And that's why you're the that's why you're the professor, 0:12:08.640 --> 0:12:09.520 and I'm the student. 0:12:10.160 --> 0:12:14.040 That's well, you're getting your PhD sudents so you can 0:12:14.040 --> 0:12:20.280 take me to school. But it also underscores you know, 0:12:20.120 --> 0:12:22.559 you say, we went down a rabbit hole with our 0:12:22.640 --> 0:12:26.280 little discussion, but it's really important and people in the 0:12:26.320 --> 0:12:29.240 States and other places in the world need to realize 0:12:29.240 --> 0:12:33.640 how important funding of basic science research is. It's what 0:12:33.840 --> 0:12:37.720 produces results like the one we're going to talk about today, 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:42.400 so that society can take action to protect themselves from 0:12:42.440 --> 0:12:47.000 potential danger. The administration we have in the States has 0:12:47.080 --> 0:12:50.679 proposed it hasn't passed yet, but they propose to slash 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:54.720 biomedical research funding. This is the funding that allows me 0:12:54.800 --> 0:12:57.120 to go to work and do experiments. They want to 0:12:57.160 --> 0:13:00.200 cut it forty four percent so they can have more 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:04.320 money to feed these billionaires, you know, and this is 0:13:04.440 --> 0:13:07.839 just devastating to everybody. So I can say that from 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:10.440 a very selfish angle. It's going to hurt me in 0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:13.280 my lab. I might have to fire students or postdocs 0:13:13.320 --> 0:13:15.960 as a result of this, Okay if it passes, and 0:13:16.000 --> 0:13:20.520 that's just heartbreaking to me. But think about, you know, 0:13:20.600 --> 0:13:24.280 the things that many scientific labs in the States are 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:27.200 going to produce over the next couple of years. Yeah, 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:30.480 you know, all sorts of wonderful things that could advance 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:35.160 treatments towards everything from Alzheimer's to zecravirus and everything in between. 0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:38.320 And that's just not going to happen if the budget 0:13:38.360 --> 0:13:42.800 gets slashed almost fifty percent. It's just insanity. And it's 0:13:42.880 --> 0:13:46.520 even further insanity when you look at the money that 0:13:46.640 --> 0:13:52.160 science gets. It actually produces almost a three percent profit 0:13:52.520 --> 0:13:55.200 of economic activity in return. I mean, if you're going 0:13:55.200 --> 0:13:58.360 to invest your government dollars in something, scientific research is 0:13:58.400 --> 0:14:03.160 the most economically viable choice. So that's my soapbox. I'll 0:14:03.160 --> 0:14:04.040 get off it for now. 0:14:04.200 --> 0:14:05.120 No, I love it. 0:14:04.920 --> 0:14:09.520 Well, might get into we'll get into the study. That 0:14:10.120 --> 0:14:13.800 underscores how important it is that scientists are in their 0:14:13.880 --> 0:14:18.280 labs and working on problems like this common parasite, which 0:14:18.559 --> 0:14:22.680 we have talked about before. But for those of you 0:14:22.680 --> 0:14:26.480 you know, who haven't heard of Tosoplasma GANDHII, this is 0:14:26.520 --> 0:14:30.040 a parasite that's infected anywhere from thirty to fifty percent 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:33.680 of the world's population. That's a huge number of people. 0:14:33.720 --> 0:14:37.600 We're talking billions now. Doesn't make people sick, you know, 0:14:37.680 --> 0:14:41.640 unless you're severely immune compromised, but it stays with you 0:14:41.760 --> 0:14:45.680 for life, gets into your brains as a cyst, gets 0:14:45.680 --> 0:14:48.440 into your heart and scale to muscle. And what this 0:14:48.480 --> 0:14:50.960 study that you alluded to, Craig, has just shown is 0:14:51.000 --> 0:14:57.000 that it can get into male testicles and possibly be 0:14:57.320 --> 0:15:01.560 affecting male fertility, which, as you said, over the past 0:15:01.800 --> 0:15:09.160 decades has just nosedived and scientists have absolutely no idea why. 0:15:09.560 --> 0:15:12.760 And to put that problem into perspective, here's one of 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:18.080 the statistics. Male infertility rates have increased nearly eighty percent 0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:23.720 from nineteen ninety to twenty nineteen. Now that's crazy, and 0:15:23.760 --> 0:15:27.880 you know that is something that should alarm everyone, and 0:15:27.960 --> 0:15:30.920 it's something that scientists have really got to investigate more 0:15:30.960 --> 0:15:33.680 rigorously because we have no idea what the hell's going on? 0:15:35.240 --> 0:15:39.880 What about I know not much about this, well next 0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:43.760 to nothing, But I heard somebody talking about a correlation 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:49.720 between plastics and thallites, you know, and all of the 0:15:49.880 --> 0:15:53.040 leeching from plastic into foods and into water bottles and 0:15:53.120 --> 0:15:56.040 into things that we cook in, and that in part 0:15:56.440 --> 0:16:02.359 having an impact on you know, testosterone levels and fertility 0:16:02.400 --> 0:16:04.880 and sperm count and all of those things. Is that 0:16:05.720 --> 0:16:06.320 anything in. 0:16:06.280 --> 0:16:11.600 That, Yeah, there's a lot of evidence to that effect. 0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:15.360 What you're referring to are so called endocrine disruptors, and 0:16:15.400 --> 0:16:18.840 these are chemicals that can get into our bodies and 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:21.960 they're so called forever chemicals, so once they get out 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:25.800 into the environment, they're very slow to break down, so 0:16:25.840 --> 0:16:29.000 they're kind of out there for good. And you know, 0:16:29.040 --> 0:16:33.000 they get into our tissues and disrupt our hormones, and 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:37.040 that can clearly have an effect on fertility, and in 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:39.840 some cases it seems to be heritable, you know, so 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:43.040 if you do have a child, the next generation seems 0:16:43.080 --> 0:16:46.960 to be disadvantaged with respect to propagating the species. It's 0:16:47.320 --> 0:16:50.880 pretty scary. But some of the other more common culprits 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:56.320 are obesity, poor diet, like malnutrition. You know, people eat 0:16:56.360 --> 0:16:58.800 a lot of calories, but they're not necessarily getting the 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:02.440 nutrients they need. That can affect fertility for sure for 0:17:02.560 --> 0:17:05.800 men and women. And then of course environmental toxins, which 0:17:05.840 --> 0:17:09.320 includes the chemicals that you are talking about and a 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:11.520 whole slew of other ones. You know, there's so many 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:16.320 candidates out there that could be potentially hurting fertility. It's 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:20.639 really hard to, uh, you know, pinpoint which one or 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:24.000 which group is doing the most damage. And of course 0:17:24.040 --> 0:17:28.040 it could be a combination of all these things. Microplastics 0:17:28.080 --> 0:17:31.600 is coming into the picture now as another potential danger, 0:17:32.760 --> 0:17:38.280 but what gets underappreciated are infectious diseases. They could also 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:42.560 be contributing to this problem, probably not to the same 0:17:42.680 --> 0:17:48.960 extent as some environmental toxin or you know, bad health. Yes, 0:17:49.160 --> 0:17:51.400 but I don't think it can be ignored, especially after 0:17:51.440 --> 0:17:53.879 we go over some of the results you know of 0:17:53.920 --> 0:17:57.080 this paper and studies that led up to it. But 0:17:57.200 --> 0:18:01.880 infectious diseases like toxoplasma, which like microplastics, kind of get 0:18:01.880 --> 0:18:04.879 in us and stay with us for life, but also 0:18:05.000 --> 0:18:08.400 kind of rita and chlamydia. These are sexually transmitted diseases 0:18:08.800 --> 0:18:15.360 that have a clear role in decreasing fertility or damaging fertility, 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:20.160 and they're just not emphasized enough part of the equation 0:18:21.240 --> 0:18:23.320 and they just need to be talked about more. 0:18:24.920 --> 0:18:27.800 Is before we jump into the specifics of your article. 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:31.199 If you've got a cat, everyone get rid of it. 0:18:34.080 --> 0:18:38.600 We don't want to do that. I'll be here to 0:18:38.600 --> 0:18:42.400 give you some guidelines on how to safely maintain a cat. 0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:45.960 All right, what about important? 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:47.960 Why you said that? You know, we do have to 0:18:47.960 --> 0:18:49.160 talk about why you said that. 0:18:49.440 --> 0:18:51.399 We'll definitely talk about why I said that. But my 0:18:51.760 --> 0:18:55.200 last one before I get out of your why is 0:18:55.200 --> 0:18:57.359 is it would seem to me, I don't know if 0:18:57.400 --> 0:19:00.440 we just talk about it more or there's a higher 0:19:00.520 --> 0:19:04.600 incidence of people who don't seem to sleep well people 0:19:04.680 --> 0:19:07.600 there seems to be maybe there's just more awareness, but 0:19:07.640 --> 0:19:10.760 I think there's a high prevalence of anxiety and stress 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:13.800 and mental health issues. I would think that would be 0:19:14.560 --> 0:19:18.040 that would have an impact on the endo crime system 0:19:18.080 --> 0:19:21.800 as well, like poor sleep, inadequate sleep, you know, chronically 0:19:21.880 --> 0:19:25.880 over time, so those things also would have a negative 0:19:25.920 --> 0:19:26.919 correlation peraps. 0:19:29.160 --> 0:19:32.080 Yeah, no question about it. I think they're all interrelated, 0:19:32.240 --> 0:19:34.679 you know, to an extent. I mean, if you just 0:19:34.680 --> 0:19:37.600 look at like poor diet and lack of exercise, that's 0:19:37.640 --> 0:19:40.440 going to snowball into a lot of other risk factors 0:19:41.200 --> 0:19:45.600 like obesity, some of the chemicals and ultraposit processed food. 0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:49.600 And you know, without exercise, you don't you know where 0:19:49.640 --> 0:19:52.359 the body out enough to get a good night sleep. 0:19:52.720 --> 0:19:55.400 That can also be detrimental. So yeah, it all kind 0:19:55.440 --> 0:19:57.159 of relates and snowballs together. 0:19:58.119 --> 0:20:01.399 All right, So toxoplasma gone, y'all are the suspect in 0:20:01.440 --> 0:20:04.880 the middle of all of this, all right? The focus 0:20:04.920 --> 0:20:05.840 of today's. 0:20:05.520 --> 0:20:13.160 Chat, a potentially new contributor to the male infertility problem 0:20:13.680 --> 0:20:16.280 is what this new study that came out in April 0:20:16.720 --> 0:20:19.480 is suggesting. And we do want to take it with 0:20:19.520 --> 0:20:23.800 a grain of salt. You know, it's still very preliminary research, 0:20:24.240 --> 0:20:28.879 but it's intriguing enough to warrant discussion and in my mind, 0:20:29.320 --> 0:20:33.879 much larger serious studies to see if there's some truth 0:20:34.240 --> 0:20:40.639 to toxoplasma possibly contributing to the male infertility problem. So 0:20:41.280 --> 0:20:44.160 a little bit about toxoplasma first, just as a quick 0:20:44.240 --> 0:20:49.080 review for people who don't listen to me being on 0:20:49.119 --> 0:20:51.240 your podcast in the past, which they should go do. 0:20:52.640 --> 0:20:56.280 Toxoplasma is transmitted in a number of ways, and that's 0:20:56.320 --> 0:21:00.159 why it is so predominant throughout the human species. Like 0:21:00.160 --> 0:21:03.280 we said, billions of people are infected because there's three 0:21:03.320 --> 0:21:07.800 major routes of infection, the first of which is the cat. 0:21:08.359 --> 0:21:11.960 So cats are the only organism where the parasite undergoes 0:21:11.960 --> 0:21:16.600 its sexual stages. So when cats go to the bathroom, 0:21:16.600 --> 0:21:21.120 they're releasing parasite eggs into the litter box, the sandbox, 0:21:21.359 --> 0:21:25.399 or the environment, so they can contaminate the food and 0:21:25.480 --> 0:21:29.240 water chain when they're infected with this parasite, and cat 0:21:29.280 --> 0:21:32.959 owners can become infected if they don't promptly clean their 0:21:33.040 --> 0:21:39.320 litter box and wash their hands very thoroughly afterwards. Kids 0:21:39.320 --> 0:21:41.680 playing in the yard or sandbox can pick it up, 0:21:42.280 --> 0:21:45.119 you know, people who garden can pick it up if 0:21:45.160 --> 0:21:48.680 a cat's been in the garden unwashed. Fruits and vegetables 0:21:48.760 --> 0:21:52.359 are a source of these parasite eggs, and these eggs, 0:21:52.400 --> 0:21:55.440 once they're released into the environment are stable for one 0:21:55.440 --> 0:21:59.160 to two years, so they don't go away quickly. They 0:21:59.200 --> 0:22:04.160 also contaminate water, so filter feeders like shellfish, clams, and oysters. 0:22:04.600 --> 0:22:08.680 They will trap these oasis into the tissues that people eat. 0:22:08.880 --> 0:22:12.840 So if you eat raw shellfish, you're basically inoculating yourself 0:22:12.880 --> 0:22:18.160 with this huge dose of toxoplasma. Eggs not a good idea. 0:22:18.800 --> 0:22:22.159 So that's just from the cat. Any animal gets infected, 0:22:22.359 --> 0:22:26.920 and like I said before, the parasite insists in brain, heart, 0:22:27.080 --> 0:22:31.320 muscle tissue. So if we have raw or undercooked meat 0:22:31.600 --> 0:22:37.480 almost any animal, pork, lamb, venison, steak, there's a chance 0:22:37.520 --> 0:22:40.400 that toxoplasma could infect you that way if you don't 0:22:40.440 --> 0:22:46.320 properly cook that animal. And then there's a really tragic 0:22:47.200 --> 0:22:51.600 rout of transmission congenital transmission. This is mother to child. 0:22:51.760 --> 0:22:56.280 So the reason why doctors tell people while they're pregnant 0:22:56.680 --> 0:23:00.800 not to change the litter box is because of talk plasma. 0:23:01.640 --> 0:23:05.920 If a woman becomes infected for the first time during 0:23:05.960 --> 0:23:11.040 her pregnancy, that can lead to miscarriage or congenital birth defects, 0:23:11.400 --> 0:23:17.400 and those can be quite devastating. Vision impairment, cognitive defects, defects, 0:23:17.400 --> 0:23:22.119 and motor skills. It really runs the gamut. So three 0:23:22.440 --> 0:23:27.240 major routes of transmission make toxoplasma a really common parasite. 0:23:27.320 --> 0:23:29.159 And then on top of all of that, there's no 0:23:29.240 --> 0:23:31.760 way to cure it. We can't get this parasite out 0:23:31.760 --> 0:23:35.320 of our brains or out of our bodies. We can 0:23:35.440 --> 0:23:40.200 control acute episodes of infection, so if the parasite reactivates 0:23:40.240 --> 0:23:43.880 and starts causing brain damage or heart damage, there are 0:23:44.000 --> 0:23:47.639 medications that people can take that will put the parasite 0:23:47.640 --> 0:23:52.240 into remission. You know, those can be life saving drugs. Unfortunately, though, 0:23:52.280 --> 0:23:55.160 they don't get rid of the parasite, they just put 0:23:55.160 --> 0:24:00.240 it into remission. So when we're talking about this fertility problem, 0:24:00.400 --> 0:24:05.840 you know, toxoplasma can get into men and one of 0:24:05.880 --> 0:24:09.919 the areas that this parasite likes to go to, and 0:24:09.960 --> 0:24:12.800 this has been confirmed not only in humans, but in 0:24:13.240 --> 0:24:17.440 rodent models like mice and rats as well as a 0:24:17.480 --> 0:24:21.200 few other species. This parasite goes to the testes within 0:24:21.280 --> 0:24:27.240 two days of infection, so it's really remarkable to be 0:24:27.359 --> 0:24:31.520 aware of that. So that's not good news. You know, 0:24:31.600 --> 0:24:34.800 if you're a guy and have these parasites that just 0:24:34.920 --> 0:24:37.040 kind of stay in your balls for the rest of 0:24:37.080 --> 0:24:40.719 your life, you know, it's not a good situation. And 0:24:40.760 --> 0:24:46.480 it raises the question if this parasite can invade male 0:24:46.560 --> 0:24:51.200 reproductive organs. Does it have an effect on fertility? Could 0:24:51.200 --> 0:24:55.119 it be contributing to this massive decline that we are 0:24:55.200 --> 0:25:00.159 seeing in male infertility. So that's what this news that 0:25:00.240 --> 0:25:03.639 he tried to address. But it was but it was 0:25:04.560 --> 0:25:06.800 it didn't, you know, just come out of the ether 0:25:06.920 --> 0:25:09.359 all of a sudden. There have been other studies done 0:25:10.040 --> 0:25:16.760