Welcome to this week’s episode of Irony or Hypocrisy, the game show we’ve all be forced to play that offers no cash or prizes. This week we learned that NIH is no longer allowed to study misinformation, but the Trump administration is going to evaluate the medical accuracy of California’s sex education. Clearly, the people who pulled their “scientific” definition of sex out of the 1750s and their measles prevention plan from the 1880s are qualified to tell actual sex educators and public health experts what’s what. The investigation was basically announced in a Daily Mail article with the not-at-all-biased-headline, “RFK exposes woke Californian schools spending huge sum teaching 10 year old kids to use sex toys.” Apparently, some of the few people left at HHS gave the British tabloid exclusive access to California’s curriculum which mentions “sexual aids (commonly called ‘sex toys’ by youth),” suggests “role-plays that reflect the spectrum of sexual decision-making circumstances,” and uses “inclusive language.” (My bet is that the pronouns bother the Trump administration more than the sex toys, but that doesn’t make for nearly as clickbaity a headline.) The curriculum in question is funded by the Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP), one of several federal funding streams started under Obama to address teen pregnancy and STIs. While these programs were improvements over their Bush-era abstinence-only-until-marriage predecessors, they are far from the liberal-free-for-all-use-the-kama-sutra-as-a-textbook-sex-ed extravaganza that the Daily Mail is describing. (For one thing, no self-proclaimed liberal would use “responsibility” in the name of a sex education program. That’s way too judgey.) PREP focuses on young people who are most at risk, including those who are homeless, part of the foster care system, living with HIV, victims of human trafficking, pregnant or parenting, or living in areas with high teen birth rates. A 2021 report from Guttmacher found that most of the funded programs teach healthy relationships (98%), healthy life skills (81%), and adolescent development (73%). The report also suggests that PREP programs were successful. Half of the young people who participated in a PREP-funded program in 2016-2017 said they were more likely to abstain from sex for the next six month. Among the other half, 70% reported they were more likely to use birth control and 77% were more likely to use a condom than they would have been before the program. PREP straddles ideologies and works; no wonder the Trump administration is going after it. In a press release, an acting assistant secretary at HHS vowed to review California’s curriculum to make sure it is both medically accurate and age appropriate. He called the review part of the administration’s “radical transparency efforts.” Obviously, the administration’s radical transparency will be the focus of next week’s episode of Irony or Hypocrisy. Unsecured Signal chats set to disappear mode will be exhibit A. Speaking of California, that’s where I’m going to be next week. I promise not to teach any 10 years olds about vibrators while I’m there, but I plan to be too busy ogling redwoods, staring at the Pacific, and drinking wine to write about anything on Wednesday. See you in two weeks! This Is Your Sperm on WeedYou know how when your best friend from college is stoned, he gets very relaxed, goes a little limp, and moves more slowly? Well, his sperm may be doing the same thing. A new small study with Jordanian men suggests that weed may change the shape of sperm and slow them down even more than cigarette smoking. This isn’t good for people who want to get other people pregnant—now or in the future—and adds to a growing collection of research showing that reefer isn’t good for reproduction. For this study, researchers analyzed the semen of 113 men: 37 non-smokers, 39 tobacco smokers, and 37 cannabis smokers. The analysis included semen volume (how much was in the sample), concentration (number of sperm per milliliter of semen), morphology (size and shape), and motility (how good they are swimming). The results showed a significant reduction in normal sperm morphology when smokers of any type were compared to non-smokers. There was also a significant reduction in normal sperm morphology in the cannabis smoker group when compared to the tobacco smoker group. This means weed may be worse for sperm than tobacco. There were also some differences in progressive motility—sperm’s ability to swim in a straight line. Non-smoking sperm were a little better than tobacco sperm at swimming straight while stoned sperm were the worst at it. (I imagine them absent-mindedly chasing their own tails.) But these differences were not enough to be considered significant. There were, however, highly significant differences between the three groups in the number of immobile sperm, with the cannabis group having the highest percentage of non-swimmers in their pool. The researchers noted that when THC binds to a sperm’s cannabinoid receptors it damages the mitochondria. In high school biology we all learned that mitochondria are known as the engine or powerhouse of our cells. In this case, mitochondria propel the sperm toward the egg. Damaged mitochondria make bad propellors. The researchers think this might be why weed is worse than tobacco. This is a very small study that needs to be replicated on a larger scale, but it’s just the latest in a series of studies to suggest that joints are not good for your jizz. A 2020 study of Jamaican men found that even moderate marijuana was associated with a 3.5 times greater likelihood of misshapen sperm. A 2019 review of research confirmed the weed and warped sperm connection and also found that cannabis use was associated with lower sperm count and concentration. Marijuana has gone mainstream now that it’s legal in 24 states and DC. (My small town now has more dispensaries than nail salons, which is quite a leap for suburbia.) In 2023, approximately 42% of adults 19 to 30 reported using cannabis in the past year, 29% said they used it in the past month, and 10% reported daily use (use on 20 or more occasions in the past 30 days). Older adults are also smoking, vaping, and chewing gummies with some regularity; 29% of those 35 to 50 reported using cannabis in the past year, 19% in the past month, and 9% daily. While no one is suggesting we have to put this genie back in the bong, fertility experts say that anyone who wants to get someone else pregnant should put down their pipe about three months in advance. It’s not just sperm quantity and quality that’s an issue; heavy cannabis use can cause decreased libido, erectile dysfunction, and delayed ejaculation, none of which are great for babymaking. German Woman Welcomes 10th Baby at 66, |
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