Thread by @leotrasande

Sorry @SecretaryPerry our hormones are our molecular ambassadors of freedom. “Natural” gas molecules are synthetic chemical terrorists, wreaking havoc and disease and disability. This #tweetorial explains why. #SickerFatterPoorer 1/

The natural gas revolution in the US has driven down oil prices and produced a boon in the supply of ethane, a two carbon molecule that is the feedstock for all sorts of plastics. No, it’s not #ethan (though it’s pronounced that way in German) - got your attention though!

Cracking ethane removes two hydrogen atoms and makes ethylene, the building block for polyethylene plastics. Look at the bottom of a plastic water bottle these days, & it’s typically got a 1 in the recycling triangle, which is used to signal it is a polyethylene water bottle. 3/

A little more chemical wizardry gets you vinyl chloride, the building block for polyvinyl chloride, typically represented by the recycling number 3. Phthalates soften these plastics so that they can be used for products such as medical devices, flooring and food packaging. 4/

You’ve heard how plastics in the ocean are choking and killing fish. But all of us carry parts of these plastics in our bodies. National surveys #nhanes run by @CDCgov regularly find phthalates in 95% of us. 5/

Once in our bodies, they can scramble our metabolism, diverting calories that would go to build muscle into sugar and fat. Studies have shown that women with higher phthalate levels gain more weight and are more likely to develop diabetes. 6/ ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/24633…

And it isn’t just women who are affected. Many phthalates antagonize the function of the male sex hormone, testosterone. Testosterone is important for sperm production and function. 7/ theguardian.com/us-news/2019/m…

So it’s perhaps not surprising that phthalate exposures in adult men have been associated with lower sperm counts as well as longer time to achieve a pregnancy. 8/ ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/24534…

Testosterone is also crucial for libido, and may be phthalates are among the suspected exposures that may explain why 40% of men over 40 have some degree of impotency. No wonder why @SnoopDogg narrates adds to my demographic group for #forhims these days on @Spotify 9/

And for men, phthalates aren’t just a lifestyle matter. They can be a life or death matter. Low testosterone, or low T as it’s called is a marker for or predictor of cardiovascular disease and death. 10/ ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/JA…

Tens of thousands of deaths of adult men in their 50s die each year because phthalate exposures diminish their testosterone function. By the way these deaths also cost the US billions of dollars in lost economic productivity each year. 11/ @TheLancetEndo thelancet.com/journals/landi…

There are also consequences for communities where fracking is used to extract fossil fuels in the first place. Surface water near fracking sites has been found to have higher estrogen activity and negative effects on male sex hormones, among other effects. 12/

Mice exposed to this water has been found to disrupt the pituitary gland as well as ovarian development. Multiple studies from states where fracking has occurred have
identified increases in birth defects and prematurity. @ScienceAdvances advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/12/e… 13/

So let me make an offer to @SecretaryPerry - I will gladly send/deliver a personally addressed copy of #SickerFatterPoorer (legal, less than federal employee gift limit). Did you know it’s a bestseller right now on @Amazon? Thanks for reading! 14/END

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