Fertility—Infertility & the Environment

The 2006 motion picture “Children of Men” compellingly expressed a silent worldwide consternation: the growing infertility in humans. Sperm counts worldwide are falling. Britain is concerned enough about this issue, according to Environment Minister Michael Meacher, that they are planning to launch a government research program to “investigate whether falling sperm counts are endangering the nation's reproductive capacity”. Testicle abnormalities have occurred with greater frequency over the past 50 years, reflected in increases in testicular cancer and the medical conditions hypospadias (testicles fail to descend) and cryptorchidism (opening to penis appears on the underside of penis), as well as the declining sperm count among the overall male population.
According to researchers at the Statistical Research Unit at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, cancer of the male testicles has increased over 3 fold from 1940 to 1980. The frequency of hypospadias has doubled in England, Sweden and Hungary recently. In their 1993 study researchers at the University of Copenhagen asserted that “…semen quality has markedly decreased during the period 1938-1990.” (American Journal of Industrial Medicine 24: 587-592, 1993).

The past several decades have witnessed an increase in studies linking weak or defective sperm to employment in occupations with exposure to chemicals and pesticides (American Journal of Industrial Medicine 24: 587-592, 1993). Sarbjit Kaur, in a 1988 study at the Punjab Agricultural University found that men who live in industrial cities had six times more abnormal sperm than men living in a relatively clean rural town (Bulletin of Environmental Contamination Toxicology 40:102-104). Certain industrial chemicals and environmental pollutants, as well as radiation, are known to contribute to or cause infertility. Lead poisoning, for example, has long been associated with infertility in men and women. Chemotherapy and x-ray therapy for cancer can be extremely toxic to sperm and eggs and can render the patient indefinitely infertile. Drs. M. Omura, M. Hirata and M. Ahao in a 1995 study at the Faculty of Medicine of Kyushu University demonstrated that certain pesticides reduced sperm count. Chlordane, a pesticide used in nearly all U.S. homes built before 1988 as a wood treatment against termites, was proven to damage sperm production and was subsequently banned. However, due to its ubiquitous use and widespread contamination, persistent contamination is suspected in many areas. Two toxic pesticides, dibromochloropropane and kepone, were also found to cause infertility in men and they are no longer produced. Pesticides, dioxins, and some petroleum by-products are endocrine disrupters, creating serious problems for the reproductive system in both men and woman.

Leisure activities, jobs, and the use of drugs & medications may all have an adverse impact on a couple's ability to achieve pregnancy. Research has demonstrated that consumption and/or exposure to many common constituents of urban living (e.g., car exhaust, pesticides, common detergents, hair dyes, cleaning solvents, oil based paints, adhesives, gasoline; and consumption of MSG, coffee, alcohol) can decrease fertility, increase miscarriage, spontaneous abortion, and lower auto-immune systems (linked to infertility). A 1960 study by Drs. Patricia P. Scott, J.P. Greaves and M.G. Scott demonstrated that “reproductive performance was a sensitive indicator of differences between diets” and that testicles in mice fed chemically grown foods were significantly smaller and less viable than those fed organically grown food.

Dr. Marilyn F. Vine at the University of North Carolina demonstrated that smoking men had lower sperm counts by 13-17%. Smokers also had more abnormal sperm. Likewise, women who smoked experienced more spontaneous abortions, early menopause and abnormal oocytes. Follicular fluid also contained high levels of cadmium, a heavy metal present in cigarettes, and cotininie, a metabolite of nicotine. With world coffee consumption increasing, the proven teratogenic effect of caffeine in rodents and the risk of congenital abnormalities in individuals who consume caffeine are worth noting. Researchers at Carleton University, Ottawa, proved in 1985 that “a daily caffeine intake of 300 mg or more during the last trimester of pregnancy can interfere with normal fetal growth.” Excessive use of "recreational" drugs or more than one drink of alcohol a day can also harm fertility in both men and women. Some medications, such as cimetidine, nitrofurantoin, sulfasalazine, spironolactine and nifedipine are also known to harm sperm quality as do anabolic steroids including testosterone.

In 2002 the National Centre for Health Statistics stated that about one in eight women in the United States had difficulty getting pregnant and carrying a baby to term. Scientists suggest a combination of causes including environmental and genetic factors. Stress was also shown to be a major hurtle in becoming pregnant in a 1996 University of Washington study.

One in five women who experience infertility problems never learn the cause, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. That a growing concern for infertility has entered our general mindset is reflected in the theme of infertility in literature and motion pictures (e.g., The Children of Men, Aeon Flux, Raising Arizona) and growing number of blogs and websites devoted to this subject. Although we are certainly nowhere near to experiencing the global infertility pandemic portrayed in the barren 2027 world of The Children of Men, this cautionary tale of a world gone mad with grief should linger like the whispered truth of a fairy tale.