British and Danish specialists have indicated in a study that plastics, dioxins, paracetamol… are harmful to the quality of human sperm.
Links between health and the environment
The results of a study on the male fertility were published Thursday, June 9 in the journal Environment Internationaland reported by the newspaper The world.
According to British and Danish researchers, the rapid decline of human fertility alone is the index of the close links between the health of populations and the quality of their environment at large. This study was conducted by Andreas Kortenkamp (Brunel University London) and Hanne Frederiksen (Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen).
More details
Specialists present the first risk assessment of mixtures of pollutants daily on the male fertility. They circulated a list of the substances most suspected of harming the quality of sperm human. Plastics are in first place. Bisphenol A (BPA) and its substitutes (BPS, BPF) are the substances that weigh the most.
They are followed by polychlorinated dioxins and other plasticizers (phthalates), certain parabens and paracetamol. The researchers estimated that the median level of combined exposure of the general population to these products is regarding twenty times higher than the risk threshold.
Identified for thirty years
The decline of male fertility has been detected for regarding thirty years. Several causes have been listed: diet, smoking, stress, exposure to certain common chemicals….
Pierre JouannetEmeritus Professor at the University Paris-Descartes, is one of the great pioneers in this area of research.
He explained that for thirty years, many studies have been made around the world to measure the characteristics of the sperm human. “The most serious of them show a decline in sperm quality, especially in the most economically developed countries.“, he clarified.
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