>Mankind's long-term survival is under threat due to 'feminisation', and award-winning scientist has said. Dr Shanna Swan said her research had found sperm counts in men in Western countries had dropped by more than 50%. She said that micro plastics and other pollutants were preventing male babies from developing properly. >That, she said, was causing an overall “feminisation” of humanity. Men were less fertile and affected by erectile disfunction more - there were also more babies being born with small penises, reports the Daily Star. >Dr Swan said humanity was in the grip of a "global existential crisis" >"In some parts of the world, the average 20-something today is less fertile than her grandmother was at 35," Dr Swan writes, dubbing the situation a "global existential crisis" in her book. While a number of toxic chemicals are affecting our declining fertility, she singles out phthalates, which are chemicals used to make plastics flexible for use in food packaging.