Twice as many girls as boys are being born in Arctic villages because of high levels of man-made chemicals in the blood of pregnant women, according to scientists from the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (Amap). In the communities of Greenland and eastern Russia monitored so far, the ratio was found to be two girls to one boy. In one village in Greenland only girls have been born.
The scientists measured the man-made chemicals in women's blood that mimic human hormones and concluded that they were capable of triggering changes in the sex of unborn children in the first three weeks of gestation. Such man-made chemicals includes PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and DDTs. When the mother has an average of two to four micrograms of PCBs or more per litre of blood, she will bore on average two girls for every boy.
Now, this problem only affects Arctic communities. However, sooner or later, this problem will affect the rest of the world as well. As our environment gets more polluted each year, I am afraid that, one day, only baby girl will be born into this world. Imagine this world becomes 《西游記》中的“女兒國” (the female country in the book "Journey to the West")... Scary!!
Source:
Times Online
Guardian Unlimited
Yahoo News HK
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