Global infertility: Could The Handmaids Tale become reality?
b"
CrowdScience listeners Mark and Jess have been watching TV series, The Handmaid\\u2019s Tale. It's an adaptation of a book by Margaret Atwood and depicts a dystopian future where many have become infertile. The remaining few fertile women, known as Handmaids, are forced into child-bearing servitude. Why so many have become infertile isn\\u2019t clear but the series hints at several possible causes, from radiation to environmental pollutants.\\n \\nAll of which got Mark and Jess wondering\\u2026 What could cause mass infertility? Would we descend into a political landscape akin to Gilead? Award-winning author Margaret Atwood has left a paper trail for us to follow in the pages of her novel. There\\u2019s a ream of possible causes, and so Marnie Chesterton investigates which ring true. \\n \\nPresented by Marnie Chesterton. Produced by Graihagh Jackson for the BBC World Service.
(Photo: Filming of the Handmaid's Tale. Credit: Getty Images)
"