Sex Odds an Important Indicator for Changes in Environmental Health

Abstract

The aim of our research is to investigate sex odds trends in the vicinity of nuclear facilities and chemical plants in Germany. We collected human sex odds data from the nineteen fiftieth till 2010. To assess time trends in the occurrence of boys among all live births, and to investigate whether there have been significant changes in the trend functions after distinct chemical or radiological events, we applied ordinary linear logistic regression. We give two examples, one for the trend in the human sex odds around the nuclear storage site TBL Gorleben and the second one around the chemical plant Hoechst-Griessheim after an accident in 1993. Both events (storage of nuclear casks as well as accidental release of chemicals) had a strong influence on the human sex odds at birth.