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Not everyone accepts the link between environmental estrogens and reproductive ills. The relationship, argues Stephen Safe, a professor of toxicology at Texas A&M University, remains "debatable and unproved." Even the idea that sperm counts are dropping worldwide is open to challenge. Some researchers have questioned Skakkebaek's methodology; they generally agree with his finding that there is a decline in Denmark but consider any broader interpretation more speculative. Several other researchers have shown that sperm counts in Finland, at least, have remained normal; a study of men in Toulouse, France, shows the same result. So, according to published reports, will three more studies of U.S. men scheduled to appear in the May issue of the journal Fertility and Sterility.
"We're not saying something's not going on in, say, Denmark," observes Dr. Larry Lipshultz, a urologist with the Baylor College of Medicine. "But to deduce worldwide implications from a localized prob-lem is something you just can't do."
What scientists can do, say those on both sides of the debate, is step up the pace of research. If sperm counts are dropping, even in only part of the world, it would be prudent to figure out why. And if they turn out to be declining everywhere, better to know sooner than later. Extrapolating from Skakkebaek's admittedly controversial data, it's conceivable that the average man will be infertile within a century. Even if things are only half that dire, it would be bad news indeed for the human race.
--Reported by Bruce Crumley/Paris, Lawrence Mondi/New York, Ulla Plon/Copenhagen and Lisa H. Towle/Raleigh