Microplastics are everywhere – and for the first time, they’ve been found in penises of people suffering from erectile dysfunction. The study only looked at five people who already had ED, but one of the authors of the study said the next step is to figure out if there’s a link.

Dr. Ranjith Ramasamy is a reproductive urologist and lead author of the study.

“We are exposed to a completely different set of environmental toxic agents than our previous generation did when lead and asbestos were all huge. I think now we’re facing a completely different threat,” said Dr. Ramasamy.

Why have rates of infertility and ED been rising around the world? And why does it take a study that finds them in a penis to drive so much media than previous studies that have found these things in other places in the body?

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