Scientists remain skeptical—but intrigued—after both a study and news article suggested that pollution is skewing the sex ratio in communities around Sarnia, Ontario, where girls outnumber boys.
Salim Daya, an expert in reproductive medicine from McMaster University, who was not involved in the study, said that this issue was raised years before, when experts proposed that pollution may be depressing the rate of male births in Canada. But, "we have to wonder if we are making too much out of nothing," Daya told The Scientist. "It's a dilemma for Canada—is it an artifact or truly a decline?"
The link between pollution and declining male birth rates, often referred to as 'missing boys', is a controversial issue in the scientific literature. Some studies have found decreases in the proportion of male offspring upon exposure to environmental pollutants—for example, after the industrial accident in Seveso, Italy, males exposed to high levels of ...
