A new study has found that compounds found in plastic and chemical lotion can affect the fertility in men.
Federal researchers studied the impact of everyday chemicals on fertility and spent four years tracking 501 couples while they were trying to have children.
The researchers found out that while both men and women were exposed to known toxic chemicals, men were more likely to be affected by chemicals and face fertility problems.
“It’s the males in the study that are driving the effect,” said Germaine Buck Louis, an epidemiologist at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and lead author of the report, published in February in Fertility and Sterility.
The main culprit was Phthalates, which belong to a group of industrial compounds known as endocrine disruptors. Besides affecting the fertility, these compounds cause several other health problems, including birth defects, cancers and diabetes.
Some recent studies have found that phthalates can rewire the male reproductive system, which can affect the production of testosterone.