Shocking news on the fate of the rice farmers in Kienxuong District, Thaibinh Province, Vietnam. You may not have noticed this news item, because it was buried deep in the annals of peer-reviewed science.

In the peer reviewed scientific journal The Southeast Asian journal of tropical medicine and public health a devastating article was published this year on the fate of rice farmers in vietnam.

Semen samples of 1,036 rice farmers were obtained by manual masturbation and screened at Commune Health Stations.

No less than 156 of these samples were abnormal!

The normal factors responsible for low quality and abnormal semen were subtracted from the results, age, smoking and alcohol drinking, by means logistic regression.

it turned out that the results were then correlated to:

distance of less than 300 meters from household to rice fields and duration of work over 10 years as a farmer

In other words exposure to pesticides.

Even workers that wore protective clothing during the use of pesticides suffered from abnormal semen.

It is indeed ironic that these unselfish farmers that work hard to provide food for their offspring and others may not enjoy the joys of having offspring of their own.

Is it the fault of western nations by not putting enough effort into agricultural development of third world countries that these atrocities can happen? Should all the EU subsidies really be going to rich European farmers or should we funnel this money to Vietnam and other afflicted nations?

And does the USA have the moral responsibility to adjust their foreign policy to help vietnam since they were responsible for a large degree in demolishing the country and delaying its agricultural development.

discuss.

references:
Southeast Asian J Trop Med Public Health. 2007 May;38(3):569-75. Impacts of pesticide use on semen characteristics among rice farmers in Kienxuong District, Thaibinh Province, Vietnam.

And does the USA have the moral responsibility to adjust their foreign policy to help vietnam since they were responsible for a large degree in demolishing the country and delaying its agricultural development.


No because when Vietnam was at war they weren't using any pesticides for the rice paddies were being sprayed with agent orange. That was a defoilant which isn't a pesticide so America prevented problems with pesticides until the Communists took control, then they used pesticides from Russia. Why should America help when it didn't start the pesticide problem to begin with? Just as with all other countries that have similiar problems , they always want help for things they brought on by themselves, nothing to do with America. For example greed.

Is it the fault of western nations by not putting enough effort into agricultural development of third world countries that these atrocities can happen? Should all the EU subsidies really be going to rich European farmers or should we funnel this money to Vietnam and other afflicted nations?

And does the USA have the moral responsibility to adjust their foreign policy to help vietnam since they were responsible for a large degree in demolishing the country and delaying its agricultural development.

The Vietnamese fought a long, hard war for the right to control their own destiny, and now you want the western nations of the world to go back and try to "fix" what the Vietnamese fought so hard to gain?

And if we were to go in and try to fix things, you'd be the first to complain about our ....intervention... into the affairs of Vietnam. You just ain't never gonna' be happy, are you?

When do we finally step back and say, "Why don't we mind our own business?"

Baron Max

Interestingly, a similar detrimental effect of pesticides on the quality of semen can be seen in the proud patriotic men of the midwest in the USA.

Int J Androl. 2006 Feb;29(1):62-8; discussion 105-8.Click Semen quality in fertile US men in relation to geographical area and pesticide exposure.

Sperm concentration, semen volume and motility were determined at the centres and morphology was assessed at a central laboratory. While between-centre differences in sperm morphology and sample volume were small, sperm concentration and motility were significantly reduced in Columbia, MO (MO) relative to men in New York, NY, Minneapolis, MN and Los Angeles, CA;

with the shocking conclusion that:
These associations between current-use pesticides and reduced semen quality suggest that agricultural chemicals may have contributed to the reduced semen quality seen in fertile men from mid-Missouri.

I say dear Baron that you are quite right when you say 'mind your own business'!

The semen quality of American men in the American mid-west is under attack from pesticides!!!

This is disastrous!