. Sold under the brand names Ronilan and Vorlan, vinclozolin was introduced at the beginning of the 1980s for use on lawns and fruit and vegetables, especially grapevines."} 52:{"type":"p","text":"Animal testing soon revealed a wide range of negative effects. The chemical was linked to various kinds of cancer, reproductive and metabolic abnormalities, and kidney disease. Like many so-called “endocrine-disrupting” chemicals, vinclozolin alters the body’s hormonal function, blocking androgen receptors that respond to male hormones like testosterone. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals can interfere with vital processes of sexual differentiation and development, right from the moment of conception, through infancy and childhood, and into adulthood."} 53:{"type":"p","text":"Widespread exposure to these chemicals is among the believed causes of the catastrophic decline in fertility that’s taking place across the Western world. By 2050, according to one expert in reproductive health, the median man could have a sperm count of zero: one half of all men will have none, and the other half will have so few, they might as well have none."} 54:{"type":"p","text":"Vinclozolin is banned in the EU, and the Environmental Protection Agency began phasing it out of use in the US food supply in the early 2000s. Last year, it was classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as “possibly carcinogenic to humans.”"} 55:{"type":"p","text":"In the study mentioned above, researchers exposed pregnant rats to vinclozolin and then bred the offspring for 23 generations to observe the epigenetic effects. A control group, with no ancestra

Toxic Inheritance: Why Harmful Chemicals Are Even More of a Problem Than We Thought

How Bureaucracies Work

Major Concerns for Post-Khamenei Iran

Growing Fuel While Importing Food