CARNAL NATION

Scientists at Hadassa hospital in Jersualem have found that Israeli men are 40% less fertile than they were a decade ago. By comparing sperm samples deposited at sperm bank between 2004 and 2008 with samples from deposits made in the late 1990s, the researchers found that the more recent samples contained 40% fewer sperm cells than the samples taken a decade earlier. The culprit may be higher concentrations of estrogen, the female sex hormone which is also used to make some types of birth control. "It seems that the cause of the change is an increased concentration of estrogen in the water supply," said lead researcher Ronit Haimov-Kochman. "The soil is saturated with estrogen and fruit or vegetables grown in it are also contaminated." Two years ago, biologists found that male fish in Israeli stream had begun to develop female characteristics as a result of estrogen exposure. Sounds like these weren't the only little swimmers to be affected.