Effects of Exposure to Environmental Pollutants on Male Fertility

Abstract

Idiopathic infertility is when an individual can't conceive or have children, but the physicians are unable to identify a definitive cause. This is the most frequent form of male infertility, making up approximately 44% of cases. Over the past 50 years, research has indicated that the fertility of men has been declining, but not due to being overweight, identified genetic issues, or dietary or lifestyle changes. Parallel to this, humans are increasingly being exposed to more man-made chemicals. Some of these chemicals are not toxic, but others may influence the body's hormones and cause harm to sperm. The U.S. National Toxicology Program keeps on hand a list of more than 80,000 chemicals and around 2,000 new chemicals are added yearly. They are phthalates, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, aromatic amines, and organophosphate esters, which are toxic and either restricted or prohibited in other nations due to their cancer-causing and reproduction-damaging effects. Most of these chemicals are still utilized in the U.S., and exposure levels individuals receive can be harmful to reproduction. This compares with other areas such as the European Union, where there are stricter regulations under systems like REACH, which touches more sectors and has more stringent guidelines. It is difficult to properly measure how much exposure each of them has to these chemicals, but developing technology can assist here. Although it's not yet possible to predict exactly how much idiopathic infertility is due to exposure to environmental toxins, there's value in ongoing investigation, limiting exposures to toxic chemicals, and minimizing risks for improving reproductive health. This review considers evidence indicating associations between alterations in male fertility and total environmental exposure. These include pesticides and herbicides such as DDT, DBCP, organophosphates, and atrazine, endocrine disrupter’s phthalates and BPA, heavy metals, oil and natural gas, non-ionizing radiation, air pollution and noise pollution, lifestyle exposures such as diet, obesity, caffeine, smoking, alcohol, drug use, and typical medications.