Chemical pollutants linked to sperm quality? Study measures risks from worrying chemical cocktails

Pollution leads to a massive impact on human beings. A variety of adverse health outcomes have been reported due to pollution, such as air pollution increasing the risk of respiratory infections, heart disease and even lung cancer.

Now new research revealed that a mix of chemical pollutants measured in people's bodies is linked to falling semen quality. Some chemicals such as bisphenols and dioxins are believed to be interfering with hormones and damaging sperm quality.

What's alarming is that the combinations of these compounds are present at "astonishing" levels, said to be up to 100 times those considered safe. The scientists said that Bisphenol A (BPA) was responsible for the highest risks.

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The study team is led by Prof Andreas Kortenkamp at Brunel University London. As quoted by The Guardian, Kortenkamp said that they "were astonished by the magnitude of the hazard index" from the chemical cocktails.

The research published in the journal Environment International noted that the semen quality in men continues to decline in Western countries. However, there's a need to determine the impact of chemicals.

Several other male sexual disorders are also reportedly increasing such as penis malformation, breast cancer and undescended testes.

Scientists believe that chemicals are disrupting the hormones and the research-based study will help the experts to understand the scenario better.

The study aimed to obtain more clarity about the chemicals that drive the deterioration of semen quality. The findings were gathered after scientists conducted a mixture risk assessment based on European exposures.

Part of the study read: "We included chemicals capable of affecting semen quality after prenatal exposures, among them androgen receptor antagonists, substances that disrupt prostaglandin signalling, suppress testosterone synthesis, inhibit steroidogenic enzymes or activate the aryl hydrocarbon receptor."

Scientists employed the Hazard Index approach (HI), based on risk quotients of exposures in Europe and reference doses for reductions in semen quality.

The study noted that by summing up the risk quotients of the 29 chemicals included in the assessment, scientists examined fold-exceedances of "acceptable" mixture exposures relative to an index value of 1.

The study found that highly exposed subjects experienced combined exposures to the nine chemicals that exceeded the index value of 1 by more than 100-fold.

Exposures to the 20 chemicals added a Hazard Index of 1.39 and Bisphenol A made the largest contribution. Eliminating bisphenol A alone would still leave unacceptably high mixture risks. Paracetamol is also a driver of mixture risks among subjects using the drug.

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